Owl Love Knows no Borders

[Mosby]

The Barn Owls pictured above have recently parented seven little owlets in a nesting box situated on Kibbutz Ma’oz Hai’im just a skip from the border with Jordan, but here’s the rub: the male on the right is Israeli and the female on the left is Jordanian!


In 2002, with support from the Ministry of Regional Cooperation, the first regional seminar took place at Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu, a leading center of organic agriculture, to discuss the merits of breeding Barn Owls and Kestrels as part of a natural pest control program.

Since then the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Agriculture, SPNI and Tel Aviv University have supported the national program in conjunction with Israel Ornithological Center and the ICSBM (Int’l Center for the Study of Bird Migration), which has enjoyed tremendous success according to Dr. Yossi Leshem, Director of ICSBM.

In 2010, the European Union came on board via the Peres Center for Peace in order to extend the program’s geographical reach. Today there are roughly 2,700 nesting boxes scattered throughout Israel, which has mitigated the use of harmful pesticides.

http://www.greenprophet.com/2012/05/owl-love-knows-no-borders/