Deaths Of 4 Owls Motivates Safety Harbor Community To Take Action

SAFETY HARBOR, FL — After sitting alone and forlorn by her empty nest in a tree in Philippe Park, the surviving owlet of a family of great horned owls killed by rat poison has disappeared, and Safety Harbor owl watchers are desperate to find her.

Following the deaths of her two siblings and parents, the owlet, named Daisy by the owl watchers, was left alone in the tree, too high for rescuers to reach her, too young to fend for herself and too timid to fly down and grab the bait rescuers set out for her.

The Safety Harbor owl watchers feared she'd starve to death or become victim to a predator.

Then last week, the little owl disappeared. Since then, the owl watchers and park rangers have been combing Philippe Park in search of Daisy.

Owl watcher Katherine Andreanidis offered a ray of hope Monday, posting on the Facebook page hosted by the owl watchers, Safety Harbor Strong Owls & Nature.

"Yesterday when I was in the park in the afternoon, I heard a noise that I thought was an insect or small bird," said Andreanidis. "But now that I've listened to baby great horned owl noises, it could have been Daisy."

Unfortunately, a thorough inspection of the area yielded no sign of Daisy. The owl watchers have scheduled search parties and plan to continue to explore the 122-acre Pinellas County park, section by section.

In the meantime, working with the city of Safety Harbor, owl watchers officially launched a public education campaign, providing information to apartment complex managers, homeowners, restaurant owners and other business owners on the dangers of using the rodenticides that killed Daisy's parents and siblings.

An army of volunteers is also distributing pamphlets door to door and presenting certificates of appreciation to business owners who pledge not to use rodenticide.

Safety Harbor nature lover and photographer Fred Brisard has been photographing the family of owls at Philippe Park for six years. Each December, the owl parents, named Oliver and Emily, have built their nest and hatched their owlets in the same tree at the park. The feathered parents keep a close watch over the owlets until April or May when the babies are mature enough to go off on their own.

See related stories:

Beloved Mother Owl, Babies Die From Rat Poison In Safety Harbor Park

Rescue Operation Underway In Safety Harbor To Save Lone Surviving Owl

Brisard said the owls draw nature lovers from across the country. He said there's been as many as 50 photographers gathered at Philippe Park to photograph the owls.

He said the first indication that was amiss came in March 2021 when one of Emily's owlets inexplicably died. In April, a second of her three owlets died.

"Then the third owlet went missing on May 24," Brisard said. "It was devastating. I don't recall any owlets ever dying before March 29, 2021."

The tragedy was compounded this year after Emily and Oliver hatched Louie, Dewey and Huey on New Year's Eve.

First Huey fell from the tree and was found dead on the ground. Then one of the watchers spotted the mother, Emily, flailing in the nearby bay. By the time rescuers reached her, she was near death and couldn't be saved. Shortly after, Louie died followed by the father, Oliver, leaving one owlet, who the watchers renamed Daisy after realizing she was female.

A necropsy on the dead owls confirmed the cause of death. Rodents are owls' main food source. The owl watchers learned that Emily and Oliver had inadvertently eaten and fed their owlets rats that had been poisoned by a common rodenticide available at any home improvement, garden supply or hardware store.

"It seemed obvious there must be an increase in the use of rodenticide and, when we began to look, we found them everywhere," said Brisard. "I'd say half the restaurants in Safety Harbor are using them around their buildings and dumpsters."

As soon as he learned the cause of the owls' deaths, Safety Harbor City Manager Matt Spoor removed the 20 bait boxes distributed at city facilities and oversaw the printing of pamphlets to distribute to all utility customers in Safety Harbor, warning them of the dangers of rodenticide not only to wildlife but children and family pets.

Since 2012, the American Association of Poison Control Centers has reported a marked increase (about 15,000 calls per year) in children under age 6 poisoned by rodenticides containing superwarfarin, an anticoagulant which interferes with blood clotting and causes death from excessive bleeding.

Curious young kids find and handle the bait boxes and then transfer the poison to their food or put their fingers in their mouths. Even if the bait is placed where children can't reach it, rodents are apt to distribute it around the property, said the poison control center.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, most of the rat poisons used today contain superwarfarin and are available at retail stores under the brand names d-Con, Hot Shot, Generation, Talon and Havoc.

Noting that these products are equally deadly to other raptors that prey on rodents, including eagles, hawks and falcons, as well as reptiles and mammals like Florida panthers, foxes and raccoons, The Audubon Society has launched a national campaign against the use of rodenticides and is asking people to pledge not to use these products.

Safer alternatives include single- and multiple-entrance snap traps, electrocuting traps and glue traps, according to The Audubon Society.

But the optimal way to control the rodent populations is to let nature do what it does naturally, said the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission. The FWC noted that mice and rats are the preferred dinner of most species of owls found throughout Florida including barn owls, barred owls, eastern screech owls and great horned owls.

According to the University of Florida extension center, all four species of owls will nest in simple-to-make wooden owl boxes.

Resident Andy Zodrow said he's made about 20 screech owl boxes. When placed behind restaurants or apartment complexes, owls will quickly move in and control the pest population naturally.

The extension center has plans for making owl boxes and tips on where to place them for each species, courtesy of NestWatch.

For plans for a great horned owl box, click here.

To make a barn owl box, click here.

For a barred owl box, click here.

And to make an eastern screech owl box, click here.

Click here to volunteer for a shift to search for Daisy.