Hootenannies! The Owls of Crest Canyon

Living on this nature preserve that is Crest Canyon since 2004, my husband Lee and I have been greeted by quail, red fox, coyotes, rabbits, rats, squirrels, skunks, rattlesnakes, and beautiful birds including a hawk sitting on our bench and looking in our window.

Our latest visitors were three Great Horned Owls who came to our fountain, Holy, Horney and Hootie. Claiming their territory, Holy sat on top of our umbrella poking holes in it so that she could hang on to it, Horney danced and twirled in our fountain spreading and flapping his wings. We were mesmerized by their huge yellow eyes, their playfulness and their conversations with each other. We learned that they hear sounds from as far as 90 feet away! We grew to love the owls. However, lately only two visit. I hope the missing owl is okay, being his rambunctious self somewhere.

Sadly, many years ago, we wanted to avoid the rats that came into the yard because they attracted rattlesnakes. Our pest control service suggested we put out poison traps to kill the rats. One day, a compassionate fire inspector saw the traps and told me to replace them with snap traps, otherwise the raptors eat the poisoned rats and die. I was mortified. In my linear thinking and my fear of rattlesnakes, I hadn’t accounted for the circle of life. The pest control service had told me “The poison doesn’t matter. It is being used all the way down the canyon.”

It does matter. Now we have snap traps.

I am grateful we live in Del Mar because we see the many actions people take to protect Mother Earth in all her forms. However, these days I see fewer creatures in the canyon. I don’t see quail, foxes, or skunks. I see fewer hawks and hear fewer coyotes. Perhaps by switching to  snap traps rather than poison traps can reverse this trend.