Photos Of April’s Owl Guards

[Steve Kroenke]

Photos Of April’s Owl Guards

April lives in the small town of Pavo which is in southern Georgia, not too far from the Florida line. April posts on the Forum under the name of Davlyn.

April has a nice purple martin colony and she uses Troyer Horizontals and Verticals with tunnels/porches and a modified Trio mini castle, all with srehs. She uses two gourd racks: a AAA 16 and a Deluxe system.

In 2011 her martin colony was thriving until an unwanted visitor arrived: a barred owl. Though April had tunnels and srehs, these did NOT deter the owl and this owl inflicted great damage to her martin colony. The owl had no problem hanging or perching on the porches of the gourds and Trio house and trying to predate the martins. Some martins were killed and many others apparently abandoned the colony after multiple raids.

So she decided to install owl guards on her gourd racks and Trio house for 2012. She and her husband David went to work and have built some nice looking and functional owl guards. They used wire fencing to completely encircle the racks and Trio house. The owl guard extends outward from the gourds/house to give maximum protection to the martins and help keep the owl from reaching through the wire to the entrances/porches. Their owl guard design works for BOTH crossbar and circular type gourd racks. And this wire fencing is NOT heavy. April can still raise and lower the racks via a rope and pulley without difficulty and she hasn’t noticed that the guards create much wind resistance.

April told me that she was a “nervous wreck” initially when she watched the first martins respond to the owl guards! The martins did have some “issues” in the beginning trying to navigate through the guards to reach their gourd entrances/porches. But after a while, the martins adapted nicely to the guards and are now entering and leaving with relative ease.

April asked me to post some photos of her owl guards through my Photobucket account. She will respond to this posting to share more detailed information about their owl guard design and material used.

This photo shows April’s Trio mini castle with three Troyer Vertical Gourds underneath and the owl guard for this system. Notice how the wire fencing incorporates the hexagonal configuration of the Trio house. Very nice looking!



This photo shows the underside of the Trio system and owl guard. You can see how there is considerable distance between the Trio porches and the owl guard fencing.



This photo shows April’s Deluxe rack with Troyer Horizontals and Verticals and the owl guard surrounding the system. Martins are there, too!



Another photo of the Deluxe rack with martins.



Another photo the entire Deluxe rack, pole and owl guard.



This photo shows April’s AAA 16 crossbar gourd rack with owl guard system in place. Martins are there, too!



This is another photo of the AAA 16 gourd rack and owl guard. You can see how the guard provides excellent coverage.



Another photo of the AAA 16 gourd rack and owl guard.



Steve

[Davlyn]

First I would like to thank Steve for posting these photo's for me . I hope this might help anyone who may have the same trouble as me last year . Last year out of the blue a Barred owl found my colony of 37 pair , some on eggs some with young and some just building nest , in about a weeks time I went from 37 pair to 14 pair I was devastated ! The only way I saved the last 14 pair was to stay up all night and sleep during the day to keep the owl ran off . I knew I could not stay up all night again this season so me and my husband built these wire cages in January before the martins return .
What we used was 2x4 fencing then we cut out to make it 4x4 , we use aluminum angle lengths that we bought at lowes and haywire to tie the aluminum to the arms on the racks . We used threaded rods on the trio house by drilling small holes on the top level right under the roof and aluminum angle under the bottom of the trio house . We tried to use light weight material and we cut the fence to 4x4 to make it as light as we could . Hope this helps anyone that may need it .
Wishing everyone a GREAT martin season !!

[LoneOakMartins]

Great job. Hopefully, you'll have a full house this year. Good luck

[Tim Mangan-Kansas]

April:

Thanks for providing the photos to Steve for him to post. You and your husband did an excellent job with the mesh wire owl guards. Although I have not been able to attract any martins to our new site, I want to be ready with a mesh wire owl guard for my gourd rack in the event I ever attract nesting pairs.

I particularly like the way you removed every other vertical piece of wire making the openings 4" x 4" versus 2" x 4". Do you, and others, feel a 4" x 4" opening is still small enough to keep an owl from gaining access?

Another question to those of you who have built wire cages for their gourd racks. Do you feel it is necessary to provide protection on the bottom of the enclosure to prevent an owl from getting to the gourds by flying up from underneath? The design in my head for my cage has the bottom also covered. This does create a problem concerning conducting nest checks. The bottom portion would have to be constructed on hinges so it could be easily removed for nest checks.

Tim

[Steve Kroenke]

Hey Tim,

Regarding the 4" x 4" wire openings, that should under most situations still keep a large barred or great horned owl out. These owls mainly fly up to a gourdrack/house and perch on the top or cross arms or they swoop up to the gourds/houses directly. Owls may hover in front of gourds/houses and try to see inside, and try to grab any porch/perch or entrance. The owls would probably have a hard time trying to squeeze through the wire opening and may not even be able to perform this move while gripping the cage. These owls are large!

Barred owls in particular can swoop in low and then pull up into a gourd rack. I am thinking that the wire cage surrounding the entire rack and having the wire rim lower down would help to block the action of the owl's wings and keep him/her from gaining access to the gourd porches under most situations. Just the confined area within the fencing may be enough to block large owls from flying up under the guards. Of course, anything is possible with owls and there may be a most determined barred owl that would succeed.

I believe under most conditions April's owl guard design would be an effective barrier to barred and great horned owls. But it is sometimes hard to "fool a wise old owl!

Steve

[Glen Webb Jr]

These look fantastic. This is exactly what I need to do after last summers attacks on my colony. Thanks Steve and April for posting these photos and info.

[Davlyn]

Hey Loneoakmartins , Thanks , so far I have around 30 birds so I feel very fortunate Hope you have a GREAT season.

Hey Tim , I hope you get a pair this year ! And more ! Thanks I hope these pictures help you and others that may need it , we enlarged the wire to try and help with the weight and also make it easier for the martins . I'm not sure about the bottom we have thought about it and at the first sign of something going wrong I will close it up but I sure hope it don't ! Thanks again

Hey Glen , How bad was your season last year ? Hope you have a better one this year !

[Tim Mangan-Kansas]

April:

I was out looking at my gourd rack this morning trying to determine how much wire I am going to need. Do you know how much wire you used to construct the outer wall? I am coming up with 37'. This does not include the top.

Tim

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

Tim, its 3.14 x the diameter, plus the top (and maybe the bottom). That wire is actually not real expensive, but I have not priced it recently. I would get a few extra feet in case you make a mistake.

[Craig Dyer]

April,

My hat's off to you and your husband. Those are fine looking owl guards. I have been hesitant to add owl guards to my housing. To date I have been very fortunate and have not experienced owl predation. I am probably on borrowed time, as there are Great Horned Owls in the area. I will probably add guards and use your designs. Appearance as well as functionality is a concern. Your owl guards are symmetrical and don't detract from the beauty of your site.

Well done.

Craig

[DornCounty]

for me it was easier to connect this stuff with those little crimp on clips than bending wire.

Although it wasn't for this purpose.

[Guest]

Wow, those look excellent!

[Guest]

First I would like to thank Steve for posting these photo's for me . I hope this might help anyone who may have the same trouble as me last year . Last year out of the blue a Barred owl found my colony of 37 pair , some on eggs some with young and some just building nest , in about a weeks time I went from 37 pair to 14 pair I was devastated ! The only way I saved the last 14 pair was to stay up all night and sleep during the day to keep the owl ran off . I knew I could not stay up all night again this season so me and my husband built these wire cages in January before the martins return .
What we used was 2x4 fencing then we cut out to make it 4x4 , we use aluminum angle lengths that we bought at lowes and haywire to tie the aluminum to the arms on the racks . We used threaded rods on the trio house by drilling small holes on the top level right under the roof and aluminum angle under the bottom of the trio house . We tried to use light weight material and we cut the fence to 4x4 to make it as light as we could . Hope this helps anyone that may need it .
Wishing everyone a GREAT martin season !!

Back in '07, I had a small colony (11 paris), and a barred owl destroyed it completely. I'm still trying to get a start again. It's heart-breaking when something like this happens. Kudos on the new guards- they look great.

[TheCav-MO]

Those loook really sharp besides saving your birds from hawks and owls. You and your husband did a wonderful job on them.

[Davlyn]

Hey Tim , yes you are right it came out to about 37' , what we did was first attached our aluminum about 8" past the entrance or porch . We bought a 50' roll from Tractor Supply , but we cut it 40' and once it was up we cut off the excess . The clips DornCounty mentioned might be easier than the wire . At the end of each piece of aluminum we drilled a small hole and wired the fence to the aluminum and made it very strong ! We shaped it as we went .

Hey Craig , Thanks so much for those kind words , I hope you never have this problem . I have been hosting martins since 1999 and last year was my first experience with owls I hope my last ! Best wishes to you for a great season .

Hey Liz , sooo sorry to hear that , maybe this will be your year ! Yes it was heart-breaking to see martins happy and singing one day and broken and gone the next ! Wishing you a pair this year .

Hey Cav-MO , Thanks , wishing you a wonderful season .

[Glen Webb Jr]

Hey Glen , How bad was your season last year ? Hope you have a better one this year !

To be honest, it was hard to tell for sure. I found one owl feather in late May/early June. It was definitely a great horned owl. Dad had been losing ducks and went from almost 30 down to 8 current ducks. All the smaller ducks/drakes were taken out. All that is left are the plump fat hens. I feared the owl was probably using the gourd racks as a perch and that's how it discovered the martins. It wasn't until after the young martins fledged and parents were bringing the young back at night when I noticed the owl attacking the martins. I think it was taking roosting young martins off the perching arms at night. But I know it eventually discovered the purpose of the gourds. One of the gourds had the metal porch bent severely down (although no birds seem to have been caught as parents and young remained). It's entirely possible there was a young martin roosting on the porch. But one morning when I went out to see the martins there were body parts laying all over the place, particularly under a wooden fence post near the colony. Enough GHO feathers were scattered around as well. As far as I could tell, most if not all were young martins. One dead fully intact adult female was found a few days later. I noticed shortly after this 10 day-or-so episode that many of the males would roost in trees and on the high powerlines and not at the colony. I never noticed anything else after that incident but by then nearly all the young had fledged and dozens of martins continued to roost at the colony throughout July and early August when they began premigratory behavior.

[Davlyn]

Hey Glen , sure sounds like an owl , it also sounds like you had a pretty good season ! Hopefully he has moved on and want be an issue for you this season .

[John Barrow]

April,

You did a wonderful job. I was out putting up owl guards at my rural weekend colony today. Nothing as polished as your setup--only the bolt-on metal prong protectors.

I feel good having finsihed the project. I know you must feel great about what you have done. Looks like 100% protection to me.

I hope your season is spectacular. You are a great landlord.

[Davlyn]

Hey John , Thanks for the kind words , if it wasn't for my husband I would not have been able to do it alone . I know you are glad your task is over ! Boy what we will do for the martin's , but they are worth it .

I hope you have a great season as well !

[tonyg]

Looks very nice April! You and your husband have put alot of work into them. I have both of those racks and have been a landlord at my current site for 9 years and upgraded to 90 cavities this year (72 last year) So far I haven't been bothered by the owls, but I know they are around as I hear them back in the timber, so i'm prolly living on borrowed time also....I guess if one worries about the owl coming in from underneath, you could lower the housing ever night like you would during a storm. Might be a little of a hassle doing it everynight but it would cut down on the trajectory of the owl flying under it..just a thought..( why don't you puta patent on those guards so I can just buy them from you.)