Screech Owl Season is Coming - Nest Box Time!

We've been fortunate to see some nice examples of daytime birds of prey this fall (eagles and hawks -see below),  but frankly they are not as exciting as owls of the night.  Winter is coming and that's the time when Screech Owl activity starts to increase around central Florida. We've also seen some frisky squirrels the last few days and this is the time they start their second breeding cycle. Last season the squirrels used the Screech Owl nest box to deliver a litter before the Screech Owls needed it, but they basically fill up the entire box with sticks and leaves and make it unusable. After we cleaned it out in preparation for the owls the squirrels still used is as a flop house (more on that in another post) and generally made it clear we had to move the owl box to, not the best location, but a safe location. The owls I think appreciated the safety. Around here there are simply too many dangerous predators for nests in trees that are marginal at best such as in the crevices of Palmetto Trees.

 If you are going to try and attract Screech Owls time is running out to put up a box so that they can find it and begin to make it part of the route and consider using it as a nest box in late winter. Our owls have laid eggs as early as late January and as late as mid March - the early nesting was a cold winter and the late a warm winter.  To build your own nest or buy - There are plenty of plans out there like this one from Cornell.  We bought and love the  Stovall 6H Screech Owl Box   it has a unique feature of a perch about six  inches or so below the hole that makes it easy for the owls to perch and generally interact with the owlets with less effort. And an extra layer of wood around the entrance that again makes it easier for owls to sit and harder for squirrels to chew it up.  If you do decide to build your own use real cedar wood and good hardware. I made one out of pine by exactly duplicating the Stovall box and it was taken over by Africanized Bees - cedar repels insects. By the time you consider  buying cedar and quality hardware you may come to the conclusion its hard to beat the Stovall. From an earlier bog I noted that a perch for the owls in the yard near the nest box is also a good idea. A nest box would make a great Christmas gift for the nature lover. Good luck this year!

Bald Eagle and Brazen Crow

Red-Shouldered Hawk Taking Flight

Screech Owl Watching - A Great Pastime

Nice idea -  a Family "Owl Walk" in a local park!

Ventriloquist Screech Owl Calls

Female Screech Owl Keeps in Touch With Male and Owlets in the Nest Box

In the last post about Screech Owl camouflage  I noted how the male and female stand guard over the nest box during the day by trying to blend in with their surroundings and taking extreme measures to hide when danger was near. Another interesting observation related to this behavior was the way they communicate during the day. In the clip above you will note the female making continuous low volume - high frequency -  calls to her mate and the owlets in the nearby nest box. You can see her inhaling and exhaling via the abdomen muscles to make these calls without any change in expression or movement of face and head. If you listen carefully you can hear the male Screech Owl occasionally reply to her calls as well as the Owlets making very faint calls. This was observed in the days after the mother owl moved out of the nest box during the day. Due to the unusual location of the nest box the parents could not be very close like they might be if it was in a tree. In this case, the stealthy communication is probably a way for all to keep in touch and is clearly led by the female owl. What is interesting is how far and well these calls travel. Just another new example of the talents of these amazing little owls.