In The Box

There are many birds that nest in cavities. Cavities are created naturally when trees loose a branch. Cavities are created on purpose by woodpeckers who drill out holes for themselves. Cavities are also created by us humans in the form of nest boxes. This week, I have photos of 2 nest boxes that I purchased and installed that actually have birds in them. First up, our resident Screech Owl. He or she went missing for a while but is back and sitting in the hole almost every afternoon.

Screech Owl

The second species is the Bluebird. We walk Peanut up at Lorimer park which butts up against Fox Chase farm. The farm is owned by Philadelphia Parks Commission and has acres of pastures and cows that are tended by the 4-H club. Someone, a long time ago, installed Bluebird boxes on the fence posts. I remember seeing Bluebirds in the park years ago but haven't seen any lately and wondered why. 

At a recent DVOC meeting, the speaker told us that Bluebirds need clean boxes to build their nest. It dawned on me that the Fox Chase Farm boxes were probably filled with old nest material so I went around and cleaned out 9 boxes and purchased 5 new ones to install where I saw long stretches without an old box.

My work paid off! Today, Connie and I saw Bluebirds at 3 of the boxes including one of the new boxes.

Eastern Bluebirds

I can't wait to see if the couples actually have babies.

Back At Home

After a ridiculous weekend drive to Canada, this weekend is an opportunity to stay home and participate in Audubon's Great Backyard Bird Count. If you can participate, go to http://gbbc.birdcount.org/ and enter your sightings for any day between Friday and Monday. I've had some pretty cool birds to enter.

Of course, our little Screech Owl is being counted. Here he/she is the other day in bright daylight.

"Our" Screech Owl

He/she has been sitting up in the opening of the box almost every day for months now so safe to say that this is "home".

Another raptor is making the count this year. A young Cooper's hawk has been wreaking havoc on the yard birds for the past few days. On Thursday, it crashed into the honeysuckle vine just outside of my office window chasing some sparrows. He came up short and sat on the bird feeder pole sulking.

Cooper's Hawk

I call this one a "he" due to the small size of the bird. At first, I thought it might be a Sharp-shinned Hawk which are a smaller version of accipiter.

In both cases, I root for the raptor even though I know that they eat the other birds. Anyway, I might end up counting fewer sparrows at the end of the weekend than at the beginning - if you know what I mean.

Speaking of owls . . . Connie and I took Peanut to Pennypack park this morning and found a Great Horned Owl perched in a tangle of vines.

Great-horned Owl

Before you wonder how in the world we could spot an owl in that mess, I'll tell you the truth. Connie and I didn't find this owl at all - the crows found him. A good trick to finding owls and hawks in the woods is to listen for crows, Blue Jays or other birds going crazy. Chances are that they found a raptor that they want to harass into leaving their woods.

Crows harrassing Owl

Not bad for staying home huh? And much cheaper too.

Funny How These Things Happen

Last night at the DVOC meeting, a 14 year old girl gave a presentation about owls. The presentation was cute and informative. I went to Pennypack park this evening to look for Wood Thrushes. I'm volunteering to do a study to help Fairmount Park document 100 nesting pairs. If we can find 200 birds, the park will be designated as an Important Bird Area (IBA) of continental significance.

Unfortunately, the Wood Thrushes weren't singing tonight. What are the chances that I would see this guy instead:

An owl! The day after we had a presentation on owls. Crazy. This is a Red Phase Screech Owl. He was being harassed by every little bird in the woods which is how I found him. He was sitting quietly trying to use camouflage to hide but it obviously wasn't working.

A couple of teenagers walked by and I showed them the owl. They were floored! Funny how these things happen.

Owl in the Box!

When Connie and I moved into our new home 17 years ago, one of the first things that I did was hang a Screech Owl box in the pine trees between our house and the next door neighbor. I opened the box one day to see if it needed to be cleaned out and to my surprise - a little owl was "hiding" in the corner of the box! We never saw the owl in the hole of the box. Many years passed and the box disintegrated. We also got new neighbors who are interested in the box.

I replaced the box last year but again we haven't seen an owl. Last month, I climbed the tree and opened the box. Once again, a little owl hid in the corner. I was soooo excited. Our neighbor, Jordan told me that he saw the owl in the hole a few times last week but he has a better view from his yard. Today was the day. The owl showed himself! Even with Peanut chasing sticks. I snuck over to the car and grabbed my camera. The owl didn't care. Here he is:

Eastern Screeh Owl

I moved to a different view. Here he is again:

Eastern Screech Owl

All in all, a good week for the yard.

I'm Not a Very Good Birder

I heard a Screech Owl trilling last Wed. I thought it must be in my neighbor’s yard based on the volume of the trill. I thought it was pretty cool.

I heard it again on Saturday at 6 PM. It was still light enough so I decided to try to track it down.  I followed the sound over the pine trees that separate my yard from my neighbor’s. I circled the pine trees to try to get a location of the bird. I stood under the trees to make sure that my ears weren't playing tricks on me. The trill emanated from directly overhead. I could not see the bird. I moved farther away once I realized that the bird was probably sitting on my head but still could not see it. Another trill started from the neighbor’s yard. Only then did I see the first owl as it flew out of the pine tree and toward the other triller.  Curses. I suck. 

The trilling returned to my yard later that evening but I was too embarrassed to try again. He was back on Sunday too – mocking me I think.