16 Comments

Itā€™s fascinating to learn about the mutualism between owls, snakes, and ants. I had never considered that a nest might be a cooperative home. You always teach us something new, Bill.

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Yes, and I never knew there were blind snakes. I had to look that one up.

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Lovely! Thank you for sharing the owls with us. They are wonderful, and I hope your nest box will be successful so you can enjoy them as neighbors. We have barred owls in the woods on our property, and I am always so thrilled by our chance encounters. Their songs are so beautiful, one of my favorite soundtracks of our winter nights. On those rare moments I spot one in the branches, I freeze - and just enjoy basking in their gaze. They seem to consider me so thoughtfully and patiently, slowly assessing me before deciding whether to stay or fly :) Itā€™s a rather special feeling to sit under a barred owlā€™s stare!

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Those big dark eyes are mesmerizing. We have been hosting a bird photography exhibit with our local Audubon chapter for the past few years and our zoo brings a captive Barred owl as part of the event. He is the star of the show. He starts calling from inside his little hut and as soon as she takes him out he looks us over and calls to us. I did not realize how much effort they put into calling until I watched him from a few feet away.

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Lovely poem to end your post, one that I have not read before.

Iā€™ve thought about putting up a screech owl nest box for years. The tree with the south-facing hole where one sat in the sun during winter days has recently fallen down. However we never saw evidence of nesting in that tree. Now I feel a nudge to get a nesting box up. Thank you.

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Thank you Bill. I loved learning about the owls and -- seeing them!

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Eastern Screech-Owls are such a treat to see. I've yet to see them in flight and mostly have seen them perched at the entrance of an old squirrel or woodpecker hole in a tree. Love the idea of a nest box.

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I think I am in the range of these, as I've seen one at as local wildlife rescue. But my yard is too suburban to support a nest box.

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I was this week looking for a tutorial on owl perches... brilliant! Thank you for this wonderful post!

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This was wonderful to read. Thank you for the information and the beautiful images.

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Thank you. I am glad to hear you appreciate the information and images.

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Fascinating. Thanks for sharing.

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I keep thinking about this post and wishing I had a population of screech owls nearby. I think I'm not wooded enough for the westerns to show up. I keep wondering though, if I could put up a nest box for kestrels. They are still present, but got pushed out of their nest cavity in my front yard pines 15 years ago by starlings. I just am not sure how I would keep the starlings out of it. Oh, starlings.

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Starlings do present quite a challenge. If you put a box up near the pines the existing starlings may prevent other starlings from occupying the box. Of course, you might also get more starlings. I think there is no way to know without putting up the box.

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Either way, I suppose it would be an adventure. :-)

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I was this week looking for a tutorial on owl perches... brilliant! Thank you for this wonderful post!

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