Owl box: Birding blog

Still no sign of an owl

noreply@blogger.com (Owlman) — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 08:18:00 PDT

I checked the box over the weekend and came up empty. I did find some owl pellets under the pines at the back of the property and was hoping that the owl would use the box. Looks like more suitable locations have been selected by the owls and that I'll strike out this year...

Owl cam sites

noreply@blogger.com (Owlman) — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 13:00:00 PDT

Considering I've had no action in my owl box I decided to post some links where you can actually see owls in action.   I'm considering changing my blog to noowlinmyowlbox.... a little wordy, no?

Enjoy the owls:

Barn Owl Cam 1    2    3    4
Great Horned Owls 1    2   3   4
Screech Owl 1   2   3   4

If you come across other streaming owl cams, please share!

Not an owl in sight

noreply@blogger.com (Owlman) — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 08:18:00 PDT

I checked the owl box today and there was no sign of an owl. To make things even bleaker, the wood chips inside the box looked undistributed. I was at least hoping to see a neat little bowl in the middle of the box, but sadly this was not the case.

As I mentioned previously it looks like my only shot of attracting a pair of owls is later in the season if their initial attempts fail at another nesting site.

Screech owl box ~ No activity yet

noreply@blogger.com (Owlman) — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 10:40:00 PDT

So far I haven't seen or heard an owl near the new location of the box. This is definitely prime time for Screech owl nesting, so I'm hoping for some action in the near future. My best bet of attracting a pair would probably be a young pair that is new to the area. Established pairs are most likely using the same nest cavity as previous years.

I'll probably give in to temptation and do a quick site check over the weekend.

PS: I found another local NJ Screech Owl landlord at New Jersey Screech Owl. Michael literally lives a stone's throw away from me.

Spotted Eagle owl nest

noreply@blogger.com (Owlman) — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 12:18:00 PST

If you haven't checked out this blog from my old home town in South Africa please do so. These lucky people have spotted eagle owls nesting in a pot plant located on their balcony - incredible!

http://potplantowl.blogspot.com/

Owl box location - photo

noreply@blogger.com (Owlman) — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 11:55:00 PST

Owl box now laocated to the top left of the picture about 50 feet from the pine tree row.

Owl box in new location

noreply@blogger.com (Owlman) — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 11:52:00 PST

I finally decided to move the owl box to a new location. This is the 3 rd location and I am confident that this one will be a winner. The new location is on my lawn at the back of my garden. The box is on a 10 foot post and the entrance hole is about 7 1/2 feet from the ground. To discourage squirrels I put a baffle on the post. In addition the box is far enough from any trees which means that squirrels won't be able to jump onto the roof. The day after I put the box in the new location I had a pair of Screech owls calling in my river birch outside my bedroom window. I am hoping that this is a good omen. No sighting of any owls during the day.... It's still early days as the owls will only start nesting at the end of March.

Short eared owl aerial combat

noreply@blogger.com (Owlman) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 07:21:00 PST

Ron Dudley recently returned from one of his favorite places in the world – Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. Last year he was able to photograph nesting Short-eared Owls carrying voles to their young but this year, because of the very cold spring, nesting hadn’t even begun. Instead the owls were competing for territory and mates and pairing up. On one morning he was incredibly lucky to find two males trying to impress a female with their aerial prowess and fighting skills. They were so engrossed in their activities that they pretty much ignored him. What follows is incredible photos of Short eared owl aerial battles. Make sure you check it out:

Agonistic (fighting) behavior SEO

Snowy Owl Invasion

noreply@blogger.com (Owlman) — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 07:08:00 PST

Snowy Owls lead nomadic lives and travel vast distances from year to year searching for productive feeding areas. Some years, most recently in the winter of 2011/2012, conditions cause them to come south in great numbers.

Get an intimate look at these white owls from the north through video and photographs captured by the Cornell Lab's, Gerrit Vyn.

See also: Snowy owl adventure with my favorite birder here.

Searching for the elusive Saw whet owl

noreply@blogger.com (Owlman) — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 19:12:00 PST

Took a quick run to PA this morning to see if I could find a Long eared owl or a Saw whet. I have been striking out on Saw whet the last few years and I was hoping that my luck would change. The weather was very cooperative and it was pretty toasty by 7 am. Although I spent an hour knocking on the usual doors I struck out on both Long eared and Saw whet. This is the first time I've been out to this spot in November and I am hoping that my luck will change later in winter.

I was lucky enough to see a Screech owl popping its head out of a 'Wood duck box'. I had to chuckle to myself considering that I am the only person in the world who can't attract a Screech owl pair to my owl box. To add salt to the wounds my blog is named after the aforementioned vacant owl box. I had to wonder if I'd get a tenant if I started calling it a Wood duck box. To be consistent I will also need to change the name of the Blog to the Wood duck box.... doesn't have the same ring does it. How about Wood duck owl box blogspot - shoewee what a mouth full ;-)

Anyway here is a photo of the Screech owl that was mocking me with his/her cuteness. This is the first photo that I've taken with my 300mm lens and the 1.4 extender. I'm pretty impressed with the results, especially give that I had to manual focus it. I also found a very cooperative Great Blue Heron.

Funny Commercial - Aaron Rodgers

noreply@blogger.com (Owlman) — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 07:31:00 PST

Barn owls help wine drinkers!

noreply@blogger.com (Owlman) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 18:57:00 PST

Next time you drink a glass of California Chardonnay say a silent thank you to the Barn owls. Farmers in California are starting to use Barn Owls to control the rampant gopher population. Farmers use owls to kill gophers.

Barn owls are gopher eating machines:
In warm weather they'll eat two rodents per night and in cold weather that increases to three or four per night. Once we have babies in the nest that increases to one per night when the chicks are just hatched and up to six per night when the young are about ready to fledge!
Barn owls are ideal for land managment as human interaction does not seem to bother them. This is not withstanding their highly developed sense of hearing - they can actually hear gophers chewing on roots under the ground. Additionally, Barn owls aren't territorial and unlike other raptors they don't spend the bulk of their time chasing competitors away.

I would encourage anyone who has heard a Barn owl in their area or who has suitable habitat to put up a Barn owl box.

Here are a couple of sites that may be useful:
Nesting box - Barn owl box company
Biology - http://owling.com/Barn_nh.htm
Box placement and maintenance - http://www.wildlife-center.org/where%20and%20how%20to%20hang%20a%20nesting%20box.htm

The human side of blogging

noreply@blogger.com (Owlman) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 15:01:00 PST

One of my blog features that I love the most is when readers stop by and introduce themselves. I've actually had the opportunity to meet a few of these people in 'real' life, but even in the cases where I haven't, it's nice to know a little more about the people that stop by my blog.

If you haven't done so please introduce yourself by clicking here.

Itching to find a 'winter owl'

noreply@blogger.com (Owlman) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 19:33:00 PST

As I typed the heading I realized that the title of this post is incorrect as I have already bagged a Snowy owl, which clearly qualifies as a 'winter owl'. The Snowy I tracked down a couple of weeks ago was actually my first Snowy in NJ. So what other winter owls are out there. On the list is Saw whet, Long eared and Short eared owl. I have struck out on Saw whet for several years now and this year doesn't look very promising based on the slow migration rates in the states around us.

Along with the typical winter owls I am also hoping that a Great horned owl nesting spot will be used this year. Anyway, hoping to do some owling this upcoming Thanksgiving weekend. If I manage to track down an owl it will be earliest winter owl I've managed to track down.

Other reading:
Who's hoo? The owls of New Jersey

Land trust preserves in NJ & PA

noreply@blogger.com (Owlman) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 17:25:00 PST

If you’re in NJ or PA and looking for some great birding spots make sure to check out the nature preserves managed by the Natural Lands Trust - a non-profit organization that obtains and sustains throughout Southern NJ and Eastern PA. There are two preserves in New Jersey (one in Millville and one in Newport) which are open to the public, free of charge, every day from dawn until dusk. Both of these preserves have been listed as “Important Birding Areas” and there are many birding outlooks on the trails.

For more info on the NJ and PA preserves check out www.natlands.org

http://www.natlands.org/category/preserves-to-visit/blog/

Thanks to Chelsea Mathers for bringing this to my attention!

Eagle owl nesting in a flower pot

noreply@blogger.com (Owlman) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 11:06:00 PST

Pretty amazing story from my home country and home town.

http://potplantowl.co.za/
http://potplantowl.blogspot.com/

A snowy owl adventure with my favorite birder!

noreply@blogger.com (Owlman) — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 17:25:00 PST

Scanning the NJ listserv on Thursday I noticed that a Snowy Owl had showed up pretty close to home. I emailed a few folks on got some tips on where the owl was being seen. The stars were aligned as my daughter was off from school on Friday. My daughter is 7 years old and she is starting to show some more interest in birding. On Thursday she initiated an impromptu bird walk, so it wasn't too hard to convince her to make the trip out for a rare Snowy owl.

We headed out around 11 am on a BITTERLY cold day that reminded me of the Super Bowl of birding weather - COLD. When we got there I re-read the instructions and realized that the owl was being seen some distance away. We bundled up and make the hike to the other side of the reservoir. We then hiked through the brush (thorny) and scouted the water line. No dice! I looked over to the reservoir wall and saw several birders looking down the wall. We hiked across there and we saw a few folks camping at the bottom of the wall, apparently watching the owl. By this time my side kick was pretty pooped, but I wasn't going to allow us to go home empty handed.

We made the trek down and enjoyed some magnificent views of the Snowy owl! Awesome day with my little girl. Happy veteran's day honey - thanks for making the trip with me!

Eagle owl in flight - amazing video

noreply@blogger.com (Owlman) — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 20:32:00 PDT

Vurtrunner's Channel on YouTube

Brown Pelicans

noreply@blogger.com (Owlman) — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 12:51:00 PDT

Took these shots while down in Aruba.

Wildlife in my yard

noreply@blogger.com (Owlman) — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 08:59:00 PDT

My hidden camera had a much more productive night on Friday evening.

New Trophy cam

noreply@blogger.com (Owlman) — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 12:14:00 PDT

I recently bought a Trophy cam to see what hides in my yard. So far I've had very little success. I've got some pretty bad photos of a Raccoon running around during a massive rain storm, some crows and this morning I took some photos of the local cat..... I've seen Fox around and I'm hoping to snap a photo of one soon.

Brett Favre - 2020 MVP!

noreply@blogger.com (Owlman) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 10:10:00 PST

Owls of North America Flickr group hits 100

noreply@blogger.com (Owlman) — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 06:37:00 PST

My Flickr group, Owls of North America has reached a great milestone - 100 members! Please make sure to visit the site to check out the AMAZING photos posted by extremely talented wildlife photographers.

If you have a photo to share please join this Flickr group.

Owls of North America Flickr Group.

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I & The Bird 116

noreply@blogger.com (Owlman) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 07:35:00 PST

Andrew Skeoch has created an excellent edition of I & The Bird 116 over at The Listening Earth Blog.

Make sure to check it out!

Merry Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Owlman) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 21:01:00 PST