Fighting gophers on my property not a problem because most of my plantings are not tasty to the gophers. I still have a big population of them. I think the family of owls that I discovered this summer has helped to reduce their numbers. Just yesterday though, I noticed a grouping of new holes with the soil pushed out around the openings to their tunnels. Daffodils and peonies are not bothered by these rodents. That’s because they are toxic in flavor to them. I thought of putting a daffodil down in the hole as a kind of insult. They may decide to “unplant” them by pushing them out and away. The sight of a freshly dug hole just the size for a fat daffodil is very tempting.

Attracting owls is a great way of fighting gophers. This photo taken at dusk shows one of my two baby owls on top of the owl box. The boxes I have stayed empty for several years before attracting the pair of barn owl that produced the young. Whenever I saw them, they never took their eyes off of me. I bought a set of night vision monocular recently. Watching the owls through them their eyes looked like shiny marbles.

I had an opportunity to catch both babies on the rooftop. Just as I was zooming in, Cedric, my Springer Spaniel rushed at them barking and they flew off. That was the last time I saw them together as one was usually in the tree next to the box.