![\"short-eared-owl-2621-ron-dudley\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/short-eared-owl-2621-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\nMany of us despise the disastrous effects of barbed wire fences on birds and other wildlife and I share that view. But maybe it’s a more nuanced issue than\u00a0some\u00a0of us believe. Could it be\u00a0that barbed wire fences have a\u00a0more positive overall\u00a0effect on some species than negative?<\/p>\n
The example I’ll use will be the Short-eared Owl (SEO), though a\u00a0similar argument could\u00a0be made for several\u00a0raptor species. Regular readers know that I’ve documented two SEO’s,\u00a0a Barn Owl, a Burrowing Owl and even bats that have been killed or injured when they flew into and became entangled in barbed wire. When I encounter situations like\u00a0that, believe me\u00a0it becomes very, very personal\u00a0– especially when the victim is still alive and struggling.\u00a0My knee-jerk reaction is to categorize barbed wire fences with left-over land mines, assault rifles in the hands of lunatics,\u00a0freeways in\u00a0wild areas\u00a0without wildlife overpasses and oil companies drilling in pristine places. Ban’em all!<\/p>\n
But maybe it’s more complicated than that. After all, barbed wire fences have two primary components – strands of barbed wire and the posts that support them. For me the barbed wire itself\u00a0is an anathema, a contraption of the (metaphorical)\u00a0devil that causes immense pain and suffering in wild and domestic animals (and occasionally people) and has significant and measurable negative environmental consequences.<\/p>\n
But the fence posts supporting the devil-wire\u00a0–\u00a0they may be\u00a0another story altogether.<\/p>\n
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1\/1600, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n Short-eared Owls use fence posts for so many of their daily activities\u00a0that I almost think of the posts as SEO security blankets. This owl has just caught a vole and where do you think it’s going to securely enjoy its meal? (sharp-eyed readers will see a hint to the answer in the photo)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/1250, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n Yup, it’s about to land on one of the metal posts supporting the barbed\u00a0wire and that’s where it ate the vole. I see this happening again and again with SEO’s when posts are available. Those damned wires\u00a0ruin a lot of my photos but SEO’s sure love the posts that support them.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/1600, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n Many wooden posts have a larger surface on top that provides more stable support and effectively becomes their dining room table. This owl had to cough up a pellet before eating\u00a0to make room for the vole.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/1600, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n After the pellet fell to the ground the owl enthusiastically gobbled down its rodential meal.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/500, f\/8, ISO 500, Canon 7D,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS USM + EF 1.4 II Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n SEO’s also use fence posts for many of their other routine activities including resting, grooming and perch-hunting. This Montana bird spent several hours just before dusk on this post as it slept and\u00a0preened. And during breeding season SEO males often stand guard over their nest (where the female would be\u00a0with eggs or young)\u00a0by perching on nearby fence posts.<\/p>\n Over the years I’ve spent many hundreds of hours looking for, observing and photographing Short-eared Owls and they naturally\u00a0seem to gravitate toward fence posts. I think there’s more to it than just the fact that I’m more likely to see them on elevated perches like posts than I am when they’re on the ground. Even in large wild areas like Red Rock Lakes NWR where just about the only fences are on the border of the refuge I see very few owls\u00a0 in the interior where there are no fences nearby. And interestingly they don’t perch on power poles, presumably because they’re too tall. In about nine years I’ve only seen one SEO on a power pole (at Golden Spike National\u00a0Historic Site) and that pole was significantly shorter than most.<\/p>\n I can’t prove it of course but I\u00a0suspect it’s very possible that we have more Short-eared Owls because of barbed wire fences than we would without them. The same could be said about Burrowing Owls.<\/p>\n I understand that fences are necessary and for a variety of practical reasons\u00a0many of them are constructed with wire. Ideally land owners will move to using more barbless wire or wire with fewer barbs. Flagging<\/a>\u00a0barbed wire fences\u00a0also helps to reduce bird mortality, especially with species like Sage Grouse.<\/p>\n There’s been a lot of buzz on Feathered Photography about barbed wire fences\u00a0over the years and it’s my hope that the conversation has\u00a0contributed to a better understanding of this “thorny” question.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n PS – There’s a lot to read here. If it was too much for you at this early hour of the morning\u00a0I hope you at least enjoyed some of the photos with your coffee… \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Many of us despise the disastrous effects of barbed wire fences on birds and other wildlife and I share that view. But maybe it’s a more nuanced issue than some of us believe. Could it be that barbed wire fences have a more positive overall effect on some species than negative?<\/p>\n![\"short-eared-owl-2629-ron-dudley\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/short-eared-owl-2629-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"short-eared-owl-2678-ron-dudley\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/short-eared-owl-2678-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"short-eared-owl-2679-ron-dudley\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/short-eared-owl-2679-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"short-eared-owl-1512\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/short-eared-owl-1512.jpg\")
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