Did you know that Eastern screech owls are great “critter
getters”?  Did you know that Georgia has many
screech owls, especially in the suburbs? Well,
it is true. These little owls will hunt
voles, mice, large insects and other creepy crawly things at night. They are only 6 to 8 inches long and come in three
different color combinations. Cinnamon and
white, light gray and dark gray, dark gray and cinnamon.
Install
your nesting box on a tree near an area that you can easily see from inside your home. The hole must face a patch of woods. Mount the nesting box between 10 and 20 feet above
the ground. I have found that 16 feet is
really high enough. Remember that you must
get up to the box twice a year-once to place the pine shavings in it and once to clean it
out after the babies have fledged. Put about
2 inches of pine shavings in the box around September 1st of each year. Don’t disturb them if they show up before
that date.
These
owls establish territorial boundaries and nesting sites from October through December. Actual nesting starts in February through May. Their range depends on the concentration of food
in the area; urban acres: 10 to 15 acres – rural: 75 to 100 acres.
If
you are lucky enough to attract a young male that has not found his mate as I did, you get
to watch the courting ritual. After dark, the
young male sits on a limb close to the nesting box and coos through the evening. The female arrives and checks out the nesting box. While she is in the box, they coo to each other
and then change places. She even winks at
him. If she approves of the nesting box and
the male, they pair up for life. From that
point, you see her sitting with her head sticking out of the box during the day, sunning
herself. At dusk he appears and signals to
her by cooing or whinnying (like a small pony). She
pops up into the hole and joins him for their nightly hunt for food.
Pay
close attention to the time that the male shows up in the evening, he will arrive at the
same time each night. Take it easy at first
until they get used to your presence. Turn on
your deck or porch light for a better view. Sit
quietly and move slowly with no loud noises. They
will begin to watch you. Soon you will notice
that the female is not sitting in the hole during the day, nor is she leaving at night. The male begins to drop food in the box for the
female. This indicates that she is laying or
about to start laying her eggs. She will not
move off the eggs until they hatch. Then she
only sits up in the hole occasionally during the day.
The male continues to feed the female and the babies every evening. You will notice that he starts sitting in a nearby
tree during the day to keep an eye on the box while he sleeps. Pay attention to where he sits, since he will
usually use the same branches or one very close by.
As the fledglings get larger, there is not enough room in the box. During the day the female may come out and sit in
the trees opposite the male and sleeps with one eye on the nesting box. Soon both parents hunt at night to feed the
babies. The fledglings will start popping up
to look out at the world. When you see the
babies sitting in the hole swaying back and forth, they are about ready to leave the nest. Start watching every evening. You will see the parents sitting back from the box
holding food in their beaks. They are trying
to entice the babies out of the box with food. They
will soon flutter to the ground and run to the nearest tree. They climb the tree using their beaks and talons. They flap their wings and reach with their beak,
pulling themselves up as high as they can go. Meanwhile
the parents are continually feeding them. The
next day, you will have a very hard time finding the family. They have moved across the street to another tree
or to a neighbor’s yard. The same pair
comes back to your nesting box each year. Suddenly
they appear there and go through the same process. FACTS: 4 to 5 white eggs – 27-30 days incubation
– Fledge after 4th week – Usually 1 brood per year. Since the parents have established their territory
they will hunt around your area all year. Fledglings are encouraged to establish their own territories in another area. |
