How Long Did it Take?

I have received quite a few questions on “how long did it take to write the Screech Owl book?” The quick answer is almost 3 years….However, for some behind the scenes insight on the actual time it took to gather the information, insight and our best understanding of Screech Owls to present in book form, I present a 2009 email between Jim and myself.

> > On Mon, May 4, 2009 at 2:08 PM, Scott Weston
> > wrote:
> >
> > > good to hear, I was hoping it was something like that
> > >
> > > I am testing a squirrel resistant design for an owl house, that isn’t
> an
> > > eye sore.  I replaced the normal house that I gave my sister in D.C
> > > (maryland) that was successful last spring, but  there was a roost of 3
> > > squirrels evicted in Nov. on one visit and again another 3 squirrels in
> > > early march and then replaced the normal style with the resistant
> style,
> > > with in 2 weeks an owl sighting in box was reported to me, with
> > consistent
> > > sightings since late march in the box (no camera though).  the true
> test
> > > will be fall when squirrels seem to get first dibs.  as her
> neighborhood
> > has
> > > a huge population of squirrels.
> > >
> > > Scott

> > >
> > > >>> Jim Wright <celeryfarm@gmail.com> 4/30/2009 8:58 AM >>>
> > > The answer is 3 — waiting till end of season…
> > >
> > > My owl has five babies, and briught in a snake the other night to feed
> > > them…
> > >
> > > I hope to have some great videos later…

This is the Maryland Box, one of the original prototypes, reclaimed the cedar wood front from a normal type box I built and integrated it into vinyl covered white pine with sloped roof.

Site 3 Activity

Last year a red pair used the boxes during the winter but nested in the area a few hundred feet away from the boxes at this site (owlets fledged around 5/25/2022)…

Reminder…Screech owls are always looking at potential cavities all year round even if they don’t stay in the cavity during the day. A new gray phased owl took a quick visit to a box at about 1:20 am on June 10th 2022..

A gray phased and a red phased (could be one remaining part of last nesting seasons pair) both visited this site towards the end of October 2022. But most of the winter was very quiet with no owls staying in the boxes. Until late January 2023 when there would be a sporadic stay from the gray phased owl. However, activity here has picked up with an owl staying in the box every day for the last week or so. Both a red phased and gray phased have been seen recently and are a presumed pair. Nesting season is about a month away so hopefully good things to come.

Frame grab from the brief early morning visit 6/10/2022 (1:19 am)

Gray phased in box 2/18/2023

Site 4: As of March 17th, incubation?

Site 4.

Behavior is indicating eggs and incubations started around march 17th.

from the owner:

“We believe the eggs have been laid. Last night the male fed her by reaching into the box, rather than her waiting in the hole for him. Of all the feedings, which there were at least 18 that the camera picked up, all were delivered into the box. She left the box for 6 minutes at dusk, once for 2 minutes at 1:30am, and once at dawn for 4 minutes. This behavior is what we witnessed during the last two nesting years when the eggs were laid. This is a week or so earlier than the last two seasons.“

Welcome to Kikinda, Serbia

Long-eared owls are generally thought of as being tough to find.  Not so in the largest winter roost in the world.  Kikinda town square…who knew? But facinating!

The Largest Long-Eared Owl Roost in the World

A Red Regular

Site 3

The red phase screech owl here has been quite the fixture, I believe it has only missed one day (the day after holloween) since he/she showed up Oct. 20th 2016.  Hopefully this is a sign of good things to come this spring. Anyway the pic is from 1/10/17. (Just a reminder this box is on the ‘new’ 4″x 4″ x 16′ pole set up.)

More Activity

Site 8

Looks like another site has some owl activity. As we move into mid autumn and leaves leave the trees screech owls seek tree hollows. From the owner:

There have been hints that an owl (or owls) are nearby. This owl is the first I’ve seen in the new slot box that was put up just put up last week!

I had to replace this box because while squirrel resistant, they are not gnaw proof, and a squirrel had gnawed enough of the covering to gain access and thus needed to replaced…more on this soon in a separate post…anyway its nice to see the owl activity.

Unfathomable Gut Punch!

I try to keep this strictly as a log book of owl activity. But this is important enough to break from that idea.  For lack of words I will keep it short and to the point. For the last 6-7 years I have been getting all the wood for these owl boxes from a family owned lumber mill from the small town I grew up in. This good family is in need of some help as they are thrusted into an unfathomable situation.  If anyone is so inclined I though I might use this small blog to help a little by spreading the link. ugg.

3rd Year of Good Snowy Owling !!???

There are some early indication that the winter of 2015-2016 could be yet another good ‘irruption’ year.  Starting with the eastern seaboard record setting winter of 2013-2014. Last winter 2014-2015 was above average with snowy owls but sightings got tougher as the record snows came a the end of January. This year Wisconsin seems to be early snowy owl migration central.    http://www.jsonline.com/sports/outdoors/snowy-owls-fly-south-for-the-fall-b99601193z1-335411881.html       As this article attests.   Who knows how this will translate along the eastern seaboard, as the irruption could be targeted in the great lakes region, but hopefully it will at least mean another above average year for the northeast.

Spread the Resistance: Repeat

This is the second year of successful nesting from clara in mass:
the update was sent to me in early june, so I was slacking in getting it up on the blog. Thanks for the update!!!!

Three baby’s were together in big tall pine down in the gully near tennis court like last year, another was in another pine they were all making noises two more heads popped down as I walked past the box one could have been the mom or even another one, battery gave out as I tried to get some pictures oh well got one good picture, see the two feathery bottoms and one looking at me… cool eyes. What a treat to have seen this little bit of life happening on a daily time line. Hope to find them in am and get some more pictures. Last year they moved to the woods near the back marsh you could hear them in the distance.

Clara

Just Another Link

Fantastic site banding and migration monitoring, owls, diurnal raptors and songbirds:
Hawk Ridge Blog looks mainly active in the fall months. Follow the link to their main site for some statistics and more info as well.
Has a great photo with a side by side by side size comparison of saw-whet, long-eared and barred in this post