The Celery Farm & Beyond

Screech Owls' Biggest Nemesis

    Suddenly, a shout rang out.* It was me, yelling to no one in particular after looking out my living room and seeing a new gray face sticking its head out of the Screech Owl nesting box.

   Even from 100 feet, I could see it was no owl. It was Public Enemy No. 1.

   That's right, it was an Eastern Gray Squirrel, one of those the furry mischief-makers who -- went they aren't busy raiding bird feeders -- love to evict Eastern Screech Owls from their nesting boxes and then set up house themselves.

   I have heard from many Screech Owl nesting box proprietors over the years, and they have lost more Screech Owl tenants because of squirrels than for any other reason.

   So far I have found only three counter-insurgency methods that seem to work.

   Can you guess what they are?

   To be continued Friday.

  * See comment to Wednesday's post.

Screech Owl Nesting Box: The Good News

    If you happened to see a guy in a red jacket by my Screech Owl nesting box earlier this month, you'll be relieved to know that the guy was not a wacko but rather a trained nesting-box camera installer, better known as (the legendary) Mike From Philly.

   Mike installed the first mini microphone and mini infrared video cam for the neighborhood Screechers more than three years ago, and the elements finally got to them.

   When the cam and mike crapped out early last fall, I asked the MFP to do a new installation (left). Everything works great.

   And yes, we removed the lens cap.

   Click "Continue reading..."  for more owl cam info.

Screech Owl Season

    We are officially almost ready for Screech Owl Season 2009-2010. The nesting box is empty, save for some fresh wood shavings (fresh from a pet-supply store), the infra-red video minicam and the tiny microphone.

   We have been airing out the box  all summer, with the lid propped open to keep squirrels from moving in. When we went to add the wood shavings this week, we were mildly surprised to see that someone had placed a black walnut in the box (left).

    We do not expect an owl to move in for at least two weeks, and we wouldn't be surprised if we didn't get an owl until December -- if we get one at all. We do not take our Screech owl neighbors for granted.

   The image below was taken through the minicam as well.  If and when a male Screecher moves in, those wood shavings will be mixed with prey items  and get pretty rude by early March.

   We have other site preparation in the works, which we will detail in an upcoming post or two.

 
 

Ace Family Screech Owl Update

As you know, I did not post much about my screech owls this year. We had five owlets, and all left the box successfully.
    Over the past three springs, we have had 14 of 14 nestlings leave the box -- not a bad batting average.
   I am working on a screech owl book, part journal and part how-to. It includes some of my old-style nature writing that reflects my love of nature
   Not sure when it will be done, or how it will be published, but I am plugging away. On the plus side, it will include some of Jerry Barrack's great photography.

Local Screech Owl Web Site

   

For those in need of a "screech owl fix," I thought I would pass along a link to this Screech Owl Web site from Hawthorne.

    Has several videos, with some creative video techniques. Link is here.

    Tomorrow: Ace Family Screech owls Update.

Screech Owl Basics: Rules 9 and 10

This post is part of a continuing series of posts about Eastern Screech Owls -- and attracting one to your back yard. 

   Other owlers may suggest different advice. Theirs may be just as useful. One thing I have learned: No two screech owls are alike.   

   Here are Rules 9 and 10 of my Top 10 Rules for  attracting Screech Owls -- with big-time advice from David Johnson of the Global Owl Project. (Thanks, David!)   

    Click "Continue reading..." for the rules.

Screech Owl Basics: Rules 5, 6, 7 and 8

    This post is part of a continuing series of posts about Eastern Screech Owls -- and attracting one to live in your back yard. 

   Other owlers may suggest different advice. Theirs may be just as useful. One thing I have learned: No two screech owls are alike.   

   Here are Rules 5, 6, 7 and 8  of my Top 10 Rules for attracting Screech Owls -- with big-time advice from David Johnson of the Global Owl Project. (Thanks, David!)   

    Click "Continue reading..." for the rules.

Screech Owl Basics: Rules 2, 3 and 4

    This post is part of a continuing series of posts about Eastern Screech Owls -- and attracting one to your back yard. 

   Other owlers may suggest different advice. Theirs may be just as useful. One thing I have learned: No two screech owls are alike.   

   Here are Rules 2, 3 and 4 of my Top 10 Rules for attracting Screech Owls -- with big-time advice from David Johnson of the Global Owl Project. (Thanks, David!)   

    Click "Continue reading..." for the rules.

Screech Owl Nesting Box Basics: Rule 1

                                                                                                   Archival photo of our neighbor, Ace

    This post is part of a continuing series of posts about Eastern Screech Owls -- and attracting one to your back yard. 

   I have had an owl box just beyond my backyard for more years than I can count at this point, and I have learned a lot -- from asking experts, observing, or learning the hard way. 

  I thought I should share what I have learned. 

   Other owlers may suggest different advice. Theirs may be just as useful. One thing I have learned: No two screech owls are alike.   

   Here are is the first of my Top 10 Rules for attracting Screech Owls -- with big-time advice from David Johnson of the Global Owl Project. (Thanks, David!)   

    Click "Continue reading..." for the first rule.

More about Screech Owls

    On my last post on Screech Owls, I wrote that "Screech Owls come in two basic colors, red and gray. Although the term “phase” is used to describe these two colors, the owls do not change from one phase to the other.

    A reddish-brown screech owl is always reddish brown, and a grayish-brown Screech Owl always remains grayish brown."

   That drew the following question from a friend of this blog: "Do Screech Owls always pick mates of their own color phase? And if two different color-phased owls mate, what color are the offspring? This is not a riddle—it’s a real question."

    The answers are: Red-phased and gray-phased Screech Owls can and do mate. My first pair of Screech Owl neighbors, in 2005, were a red-phased male and a gray-phased female.

   Because I had not installed a camera in the nesting box, I do not know if any of the owlets survived, let alone their coloration. But from what I understand, the two gray-phased owls of two years ago had both red-phased and gray-phased offspring. The coloration seems random.

   Females are typically larger than males, and two-thirds of all Eastern Screech Owls are typically gray. More on Eastern Screech Owls here.

    Western Screech Owls are only gray-phase, and have black bills.  More on Western Screech Owls here.

    Note: Unless otherwise noted, all solid Screech Owl photos were taken by Jerry Barrack. Mediocre or lousy shots are likely mine.

    Questions of comments on Screech Owls. E-mail me here.