Nature Done Wright

  The last thing I’d like to be writing about is my efforts to evict the squirrel that has been seen at least twice in the screech owl box.
   Ace the screech owl has not been back since Saturday afternoon. The good news is that there’s still a good two months before we get into prime breeding season, and there is a strong likelihood that Ace will be back by then.
   I e-mailed a couple of owl experts for advice, and also got a great bit of advice from Owlman, a reader of the blog who has started his own blog.
   The first bit of advice, from both owl experts, was to take away my main backyard bird feeder, which was attracting squirrels to the base.

   I removed the feeder, and now I get very few birds to the back yard — and as far as I can see, no squirrels. Once the situation has calmed down for a while, maybe Ace will return.

   The second bit of advice was to immediately remove any leaves that the squirrel brings into the box. That will thwart the squirrel’s efforts to build a nest, and it will soon get the message.

   The squirrel has not brought any leaves into the box, so that is a good sign.

    The advice from Owlman was to use more flashing to squirrel-proof the box. In particular, he suggests putting flashing on the roof so that the squirrel can’t jump onto it.

  I also came across this excellent screech owl site in Texas, which also stresses the need for flashing — not to keep out squirrels but to keep out house cats, which have killed several of his owlets.

   Who knew?

    I guess if Ace the screech owl does not return soon, I’ll try more flashing, so to speak.