Owl Habitat

[sotc]

I have an oak tree with a "historic" owl nest that I am reccomending removal of. It is a very touchy subject at a public park. I know Brian and some others have put up owl boxes, any input on setting one up would be appreciated.

 

[sotc]

Pictures would be great also

 

[OTGBOSTON]

screech owl nesting box

Thats moss in the pics, I'm sure he could tell you more than you ever wanted to know about bird habitat.

 

[MasterBlaster]

That's something you don't see every day!

 

[SkwerI]

The only time I've been involved with owl nests (or any other birds of prey) was if a nest with babies got displaced. If they aren't actively nesting then it shouldn't be a problem, they usually build a new nest in the Spring anyway.

 

[stehansen]

Are they barn owls Willie?

 

[Al Smith]

From what I see owls are pretty adaptable .Fact is just several hours ago as I was cleaning up the mess from the tree I took down yesterday I heard one of those little screech owls .Now this is in a residentual area of a 50,000 population city .

 

[sotc]

The only time I've been involved with owl nests (or any other birds of prey) was if a nest with babies got displaced. If they aren't actively nesting then it shouldn't be a problem, they usually build a new nest in the Spring anyway.

May not be a problem with the owls per se, but the public is the concern as this has been active for many years.

Greg, who is Moss?

 

[Bodean]

Owls can use the same nest year after year or build another for no rhyme or reason.

 

[stehansen]

The only owls I have experience with are barn owls and great horned owls. Totally different ways of nesting. Barn owls would naturally nest in a tree cavity but will use a nesting box or a barn and will tolerate quite a bit of human activity. Great horned owls "swipe" a crow or raven nest usually. They nest a little earlier than the crows so they just use their nest from the year before. They rarely use it twice and tear it up while they are using it.

 

[Al Smith]

Great horned owls and crows are not the best of friends .Crows will torment the dickens out a crow if they catch one in the day time ,Come nightfall though a crow will roost and old brer owl will snatch them one by one .Old owl always wins . .

 

[brendonv]

I always hear owls hooting, can't ever spot the damned things though. Good luck Willie!

 

[OTGBOSTON]

Greg, who is Moss?

The most pro rec climber that ever lived! His name is Andrew Joslin if you want to hit him up on FB. Solid dude, he does a few rec climbs a year for me with local youth groups. We hung about a dozen of those boxes. For being an inner City Park Franklin Park has a huge owl population including a few great horned owls.

 

[stehansen]

You can buy owl boxes around here locally and I think they are around $50. They install into a tree with a couple of lag bolts and need to be 15' or higher in the tree, or can be put on a pole or a pipe even. The owls begin looking for mates around Christmas time so it has to be up then or they will wait until the next year. They are great mouse and gopher eaters.

 

[Bodean]

Do you guys ever check the owl boxes afterwards?

We installed like 12 one year and never found a thing in them over the next 2 years.

 

[Al Smith]

If it's a great horned owl not only mice and gophers .They will snatch rabbits ,squirrels ,kittens . They can be just as active in day time as they are at night too .

Birds of prey for some reason fascinate me .

 

[Bodean]

We watched a pair of GHO rear 3 chicks amongst a heavy throng of maybe 10 crows.
No crow wandered too close.

Someone told me a story of a Mated pair of Ravens bringing in a group of juvenile ravens to destroy an occupied red tail hawk nest.

 

[squisher]

I've got a seven cottonwood removal for the city on hold right now until they hire a screech owl exspurt to decide whether it's ok to take the trees out. Sucks.

 

[SkwerI]

Skwishey, didn't you say that you were a screech owl ex-spurt?

 

[Jed]

Is that Lithia Park Willie?

 

[Al Smith]

Ravens are crows on steroids ,big rascals .I've seen very few of them because this area is on the southern part of the range of a northern raven .

I have however seen crows pester red tails about like they do the big owls .Heaven help them though if the big hawk makes a break for it because he can fly circles around them in the open skies .The ground will be littered with black feathers from at least one of them .That I've seen in action .

 

[sotc]

It is, we will be there tomorow. Squishy is a spotted owl exspurt

 

[stehansen]

If it's a great horned owl not only mice and gophers .They will snatch rabbits ,squirrels ,kittens . They can be just as active in day time as they are at night too .

Birds of prey for some reason fascinate me .

Great horned owls don't nest in a cavity though Al. I saw one snatch a neighbor's cat one night. Cat never knew what hit it. I'm told they also are partial to skunk.

 

[MasterBlaster]

That cat knew what hit it as it was being eaten alive - lordy!

 

[SouthSoundTree]

What about putting up that section of the trunk someplace, rather than a box?

I have an ornithologist friend who might be able to answer some questions/ give some input. Do you have any pictures of the owl to figure out the species?