Ray Ring

Senior Editor

Up to 2,500 barn owls have been struck by vehicles along a 200-mile stretch of Idaho interstate in the past two years, according to researchers who find the carcasses. The Idaho Statesman reports:

… Researchers are worried the deaths may be greatly reducing the population, even raising the spectre of localized extinctions. … Barn owls numbers have been declining around the world for decades, but the numbers in southern Idaho are particularly striking … It’s fairly clear the owls are being hit by vehicles.

Roads take a toll on many species, but the numbers are rarely documented like this. And the dead owls could be a symptom of something larger askew in the ecosystem:

… Why barn owls are dying at a rate more than 10 times that of the next most frequently found (roadkilled) bird is unknown … The owls appear to be hunting before they die — some have been found with a vole in their talons and many have undigested voles in their stomachs — and likely follow rodents to the road …

… One theory is that the owls are getting nonlethal poisoning from pesticides in their agricultural hunting areas, (says Boise State University researcher Than Boves). The poisoning could affect their central nervous system, making them a little slow to react to vehicles.

Boise State University biology professor Jim Belthoff warns:

“Often predators are really good indicators for environmental problems.”

For a survey of roadkill issues — and roadkill-obsessed characters — around the West, check High Country News … And deeper into the Who Knows Department, I have to wonder, maybe this sad wave of roadkilled owls is one more complicated effect of global warming?