Hi all,

Someone just brought it to my attention that I misspelled inclement in
my previous message regarding owl nest boxes.  Hey, if that was my only
mistake that day then I'm happy.  Of course, inclimate makes much more
sense than inclement when discussing weather.  I mean what is weather if
it's not part of climate, and the prefix "in-" is used in the negative.
So poor weather is poor climate...thus inclimate.  Yah, that's the way
my mind works.

I wanted to touch on what Mike said about Screech Owls needing multiple
boxes.  Male screech owls will actually hold multiple, disjunct
territories simultaneously, and they will typically hold sites with
multiple natural and artificial cavities.  The reason being for this is
that the female is the one that chooses the nest cavity she likes.  So
if he attracts her to one of his territories then she has lots of
options for choosing a nesting site.  

He does use the extra cavities as roosting sites, as well as food
caches.  Prior to nesting, he will commonly roost near to where the
female chooses to nest.  So the extra box is used by him, at least for a
little while.  Once she begins sitting on eggs then he hangs around much
less.

So it doesn't hurt to put up several extra boxes in an area.

It will be interesting to hear folks' success as they install these
boxes on or near their properties.

Good luck,

Casey


Casey Tucker
Education Specialist
Audubon At Home
Audubon Ohio
692 N. High St., Suite 303
Columbus, Ohio 43215-1585 
Phone: (614) 224-3303 ext. 15
Fax: (614) 224-3305 
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-----Original Message-----
From: MU Ornithology Listserv (ZOO 408)
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Mike Busam
Sent: Thursday, December 09, 2004 10:08 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: owl nest box

Greetings... I can't recall where I heard this bit of advice, but I read
somewhere that it's helpful to place two boxes fairly close and facing
each
other, since the male will use one box while the female is incubating in
the
other, and pairs will apparently roost nearby each other. A couple of
the
years since I put up the box, there have been wintering screech owls in
each
box. One evening--and this was the proudest moment of my pathetic
birding
life--I successfully called in both owls at dusk to a perch within ten
feet
of the living room window with my lousy screech owl whistle-call. But,
alas,
they never again fell for *that* imitation.

The boxes are about 8 to 10 feet off the ground, facing each other about
thirty feet apart. Last year and so far this year, only one owl used the
box. This is also the first year I've seen a red morph screech; in past
years they were gray screeches. When I check the boxes in the spring I
usually find a number of pellets, and I suspect the owls primarily eat
rodents around the neighborhood. However, I also find cedar waxwing
feathers
in the box from time to time--but never any other bird feathers.

There's a field mouse living in our shed, which I toss a handful of bird
seed on the shed floor when I happen to go in there on an errand.
Fattening
him up for the screech, I suppose, but I get a kick out of the mouse,
and
the owl, of course.

Take care,
---Mike Busam