A pair of barn owls have found love this Valentine’s Day at Goose Pond Fish & Wildlife Area (FWA).

The owls have made a home in the property’s nest box, and you can watch this couple via a live webcam by going to on.IN.gov/goosepondfwa, then scrolling to the middle of the page to the link that says “view live feed from the Visitors Center.”

Barn owls are an endangered species in Indiana due to grassland habitat loss. Fewer than 50 nests are found annually in Indiana. To provide barn owls with secure nesting sites that are protected from predators, the DNR has built more than 400 nest boxes and erected them in barns and other structures with suitable habitat over the last 30 years.

The barn owl nest box at Goose Pond FWA was completed in March 2022 and is located next to its Visitors Center. This is the first nesting pair that has decided to call it home. The Friends of Goose Pond group helped provide funding for the camera and box, which has marine-grade plywood to keep the residents dry. It was painted the same color as the Visitors Center and looks like a house.

State ornithologist Allisyn Gillet said barn owls are typically beginning to look for a nest this time of year. The couple at Goose Pond FWA will probably spend the next few weeks getting used to their new home and creating a nest from regurgitated food they could not digest, like bones, fur, and teeth, called pellets. When they have enough pellets, the owls will create a depression in them in which to lay their eggs.

Their laying season can begin as early as March, and their clutch usually contains four to seven eggs. They usually lay once every two to three days and start incubating their eggs right away. After 29-34 days, the eggs hatch. A male will bring in small mammals that the female then tears into small pieces to feed their owlets.  

Because the hatching doesn’t happen all at once, the older owlets that hatch first are usually stronger. If there are plenty of resources, all the owlets in a clutch have a good chance at survival, but if resources are scarce, only the stronger, older owlets may survive. DNR does not interfere in such routine natural events.