I built a screech owl box and placed it in the empty lot next to my home. I have been playing screech owl calls from my cell phone and was having them land within feet of me calling back. I did this to try to get them in the trees where the box is. I took the flashlight out tonight and saw what I believe to be the male perched on a tree stump and the females head popping out of the box. I wonder if my calls helped them find the box.
To say the least I am glad I got a pair and it only took one try. Now if only martins were this simple. (Going on 3rd season with no martins)
By the way I got the idea to use the calls from the dawnsong we use for martins.
Anyone have screech owls?
I got screech owls spending the night in an arcaida palm next to my window calling all night 
I would love to erect some housing for them but i fear they will take my martins.
I would love to erect some housing for them but i fear they will take my martins."We can judge the heart of man by his treatment of animals." - Immanual Kant.
https://plus.google.com/u/0/+JulioPrado954/posts
https://plus.google.com/u/0/+JulioPrado954/posts
-
Guest
That is cool. I bet they could really use a nest box. I can tell you that this pair is only seen or heard after dark. And they are very territorial which might in a sense keep other predators away. In my opinion if you have deep cavities I don't think they will get any martins but I see why you might be concerned. I'm just trying to help any of the local native birds I can. I also get a pair of great crested fly catchers every year. If you do put up a box please let me know if you have success. Also do any of you other landlords consider screech owls a threat?
-
Louise Chambers
- Site Admin
- Posts: 6208
- Joined: Tue Nov 04, 2003 1:07 pm
- Location: Corpus Christi, TX
RC Moser in OK has a screech owl that winters at his place. I think we get more reports of screech owls nesting IN martin houses or gourds from FL than anywhere else. They need cavities to nest in too.
They eat a lot of insects, but could prey on martins. The best way to protect martins from screech owls is to use starling resistant entrances. Screech owls can get through the same size round holes as martins, but can't get through a SREH. Conventional owl guards won't work on them due to their small size.
We have reports from quite a few FL landlords who host both martins and screech owls, but I can't tell you if they all use SREHs to protect their martins.
Louise
They eat a lot of insects, but could prey on martins. The best way to protect martins from screech owls is to use starling resistant entrances. Screech owls can get through the same size round holes as martins, but can't get through a SREH. Conventional owl guards won't work on them due to their small size.
We have reports from quite a few FL landlords who host both martins and screech owls, but I can't tell you if they all use SREHs to protect their martins.
Louise
I have one winter roost in my front yard for atleast 7 years. He sometime rotates between three boxes I have in my yard. two out front and one in the back. Mr. Magoo has a girlfriend! she's a cutie pie! but, shes shy. I see the both of them leave about every night just before dark and occasionally go in in the mornings when I out walking annie the wonder dog! . Mr. Magoo is a rusty red and his mate is a gray morphs. I think they pick a more hidden spot to nest. I thought one year they were nesting out front, but I never seen any eggs or baby magoos.
He is so quiet when he flies. I too had him come down when I was watering late one evening, he must of heard the leave rattle (from watering) thinking it was a mouse or something? Cause he flew down and landed right beside me looking at the leaves. So far he has never bothered my PMs, but I have srehs and deep cavities with most of the L shaped so the nest chamber cannot be seen from viewing through the entry hole. I also have my straight through cavities baffled so the nest chamber can not be seen.
Got one more interesting thing in my yard! I Now have a Flying squirrel nesting in one of my blue bird boxes. I'll be looking for the teenagers after dark on my bird feeders in april?
He is so quiet when he flies. I too had him come down when I was watering late one evening, he must of heard the leave rattle (from watering) thinking it was a mouse or something? Cause he flew down and landed right beside me looking at the leaves. So far he has never bothered my PMs, but I have srehs and deep cavities with most of the L shaped so the nest chamber cannot be seen from viewing through the entry hole. I also have my straight through cavities baffled so the nest chamber can not be seen.
Got one more interesting thing in my yard! I Now have a Flying squirrel nesting in one of my blue bird boxes. I'll be looking for the teenagers after dark on my bird feeders in april?
Last edited by RC Moser on Fri Mar 19, 2010 7:46 am, edited 1 time in total.
-
Guest
Hey R.C. how did you get a collar on that flying squirrel in the photo. Seems pretty tame just laying on the floor. Ugliest damn squirrel I've ever seen though.
Cause I only seen it Fly pass my head 
. Annie on break time from mole, gofer, squirrel, crow hunting! Remember Ugly is in the eyes of the other person! I don't like using the U word. -
Carlton
- Posts: 1959
- Joined: Tue May 17, 2005 6:42 pm
- Location: Florida/Deerfield Beach
- Martin Colony History: I moved to South Florida, from Delaware, in August of 2015.
I care for a 6 condo Sunset House as well as two Deluxe Gourd Racks, with 24 Chirpynest/Excluder gourds, along a canal in Pompano Beach, Florida.
At Quiet Waters Park, nearby in Deerfield Beach, I care for a Deluxe Gourd Rack with 12 TVG's. I also care for a Deluxe Gourd rack with 12 Excluder gourds with Modified Excluder entrances. I am substituting 6 Chirpynest boxes for 6 of the Conley II entranced gourds in 2026.
At another local park, Tradewinds Park in Coconut Creek, I care for a Trendsetter 12, 5 gourds rack with 60 Excluder gourds with Modified Excluder Entrances and 1 Deluxe Gourd Rack with 12 Troyer Vertical Gourds with Starling Stoppers over the Conley II's to keep out smaller starlings.
I loved reading this page.
I had a pair of screech owls when I lived back in Southern MD. I THINK they are the ones that got my bluebirds as the bluebirds roosted in a house in the late winter but I am not 100% positive. Anyway, the SREH should protect the martins at night when the owls are active.
The screech owls are so cute. One used to sit on the deck railing, outside my bedroom sliding door, and look for prey as well as cry out once in awhile.
I do not think I have ever actually seen a flying squirrel in real life but I am SURE they were around where I lived.
I had a pair of screech owls when I lived back in Southern MD. I THINK they are the ones that got my bluebirds as the bluebirds roosted in a house in the late winter but I am not 100% positive. Anyway, the SREH should protect the martins at night when the owls are active.
The screech owls are so cute. One used to sit on the deck railing, outside my bedroom sliding door, and look for prey as well as cry out once in awhile.
I do not think I have ever actually seen a flying squirrel in real life but I am SURE they were around where I lived.
-
Guest
I put up a screech owl box last year, needless to say it was a Starling magnet. It was about 20' high, so it was hard to trap with it. I shot so many Starlings off of it and I had to destroy a nest about every other week. I finally gave up and let a fox squirrel move in. Now I get some enjoyment watching the starlings constantly bugging the squirrel during nesting season.
-
Guest
My box is 7' up so it doesn't need to be so high and is much more manageable obviously.
I sat out with my dogs as night set in. Just as the last cat birds stopped there calls I heard them calling with the trill sound. Then I saw one fly straight into the box. By the way the hole needs to be 3". There is no way they can fit into a martin sized hole. My Flycatchers box is 2.5" and I have never seen an owl in it. The owls box is 15' away and was occupied within weeks.
I sat out with my dogs as night set in. Just as the last cat birds stopped there calls I heard them calling with the trill sound. Then I saw one fly straight into the box. By the way the hole needs to be 3". There is no way they can fit into a martin sized hole. My Flycatchers box is 2.5" and I have never seen an owl in it. The owls box is 15' away and was occupied within weeks.
-
Louise Chambers
- Site Admin
- Posts: 6208
- Joined: Tue Nov 04, 2003 1:07 pm
- Location: Corpus Christi, TX
Although they look too big, screech owls do fit into martin-sized holes - we have photos of them roosting in Trio boxes with round holes, nesting in SuperGourds with round (2 inch) holes, etc. It's hard to believe their head fits, but it does! Though an owl box would certainly call for larger, 3 inch, holes.
Here is a photo by FL landlord Pam Winegar. This is an adult owl, if I find the photos of the babies, be prepared for dangerous overload of cute fluffy baby birds. Update 14(2) had an article by Pam, with several great photos. And one of my favorite photo captions ever, "Owl be your baby tonight" - I have a weakness for puns
Here is a photo by FL landlord Pam Winegar. This is an adult owl, if I find the photos of the babies, be prepared for dangerous overload of cute fluffy baby birds. Update 14(2) had an article by Pam, with several great photos. And one of my favorite photo captions ever, "Owl be your baby tonight" - I have a weakness for puns
- Attachments
-
- Photo by Pam Winegar, Malabar FL
- mail%20owl%201.jpg (35.64 KiB) Viewed 5979 times
-
Guest
wow I stand corrected. That is a screech owl. Thanks for sharing. I am surprised they never used my 2.5 inch entrance boxes.
-
FredZ
- Posts: 6
- Joined: Thu Jan 31, 2008 2:16 pm
- Location: Marble Falls, TX
- Martin Colony History: 2012 2 pairs, 12 eggs, 12 fledged
2013 7 pairs, 28 eggs, 19 fledged
2014 10 pairs, 51 eggs, 33 fledged
2015 16 pairs, 80 eggs, 54 fledged
2016 17 pairs, 90 eggs, 85 fledged (it was a very good year :grin: )
Screech Owls add to our enjoyment of birds. A perfect spring evening at our house has the following three parts.
1. Watch the martins settled down for the night in the front yard.
2. Move to the back yard and watch the bats come out of the bat house.
3. Wait another 5 to 10 minutes and the screech owl flys out of the back woods. The owl gets a drink from the bird bath and sometime lands on the garden fence looking for dinner. The owl is no more than 20 to 30 feet from us.
My owl box is in the back woods about 200ft from the martin houses & I have SREH entrances for the martin houses.
Fred
1. Watch the martins settled down for the night in the front yard.
2. Move to the back yard and watch the bats come out of the bat house.
3. Wait another 5 to 10 minutes and the screech owl flys out of the back woods. The owl gets a drink from the bird bath and sometime lands on the garden fence looking for dinner. The owl is no more than 20 to 30 feet from us.
My owl box is in the back woods about 200ft from the martin houses & I have SREH entrances for the martin houses.
Fred
Fred Z
Marble Falls, TX
2012 2 pairs, 12 eggs, 12 fledged
2013 7 pairs, 28 eggs, 19 fledged
2014 10 pairs, 51 eggs, 33 fledged
2015 16 pairs, 80 eggs, 54 fledged
2016 17 pairs, 90 eggs, 85 fledged (it was a very good year
)
Marble Falls, TX
2012 2 pairs, 12 eggs, 12 fledged
2013 7 pairs, 28 eggs, 19 fledged
2014 10 pairs, 51 eggs, 33 fledged
2015 16 pairs, 80 eggs, 54 fledged
2016 17 pairs, 90 eggs, 85 fledged (it was a very good year
)-
Bill Kepley
- Posts: 52
- Joined: Mon Jun 16, 2008 3:10 pm
- Location: Ohio/Richwood
I had a pair of screechies nest in my yard last year and the best thing about it was an immediate decline in the HOSP population! I found hosp wings all over the yard, and had much less problem with them at the martin housing. The screechies are back this week and again, a lot less sparrows. Way to go, screechies!!!
I built a nest box for my neighbors and they have a pair , also.
I also found a pair of TRES wings by the owl box, but I decided it was a fair trade for the sparrow help.
Bill
I built a nest box for my neighbors and they have a pair , also.
I also found a pair of TRES wings by the owl box, but I decided it was a fair trade for the sparrow help.
Bill