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Help with a first time owl nesting box (1 Viewer)

jordn613

Member
I live just within the city limits of Atlanta and many years I hear Barred Owls and in some years I’ve been able to spot them. I decided to splurge and buy a barred owl box from Wild Birds Unlimited but I have a bunch of questions regarding how to properly mount it, placement, maintenance and attracting the owls to it.

First, here are some pictures of the box.

https://imgur.com/a/5rdrGRX



As you can see, it has two mounting loops on the back. Should I just use large screws and drill two into the tree pushing against these loops? Should I use some sort of chain to hang it on? I’m not super handy so any advice on how to do this well would be helpful. (I have a 20 foot ladder, so I should definitely be able to get it up at a decent height).

Secondly, does it truly matter which direction it faces? I guess ideally I’d have it face our house, but it’d be facing west if I did that. Should I place it just above some limbs, for the owls to hang out on if possible, or would placing it on a very open part of the tree that is far from any limbs ok?

Next, there is no way to open the box to clean it out…this seems odd to me. Do I or should I ever get on a ladder and peek in? Put my arm in? This seems like a bad idea for a variety of reasons, right? Any advice here would be helpful.

Finally, how should I go about enticing the owls to the area? We have plenty of rodents, and a small stream within 50 yards of the house, so that probably helps but if there are other ways to make the presence of the box known, what should I do?

Thanks so much for any and all advice.
 
Hello jordn613,

here is my version of a nest box for owls. At least this was the plan.
As you may judge from the pictures I attached, the box is attracting lots of animals.

One is our own cat. The other predator is still not identified. Could be a pine marten. The first guess was a brown owl but only temporarily. The owl was followed by the stock pigeons who kept it as their home.

That was back in 2015. You brought me to the idea to mount a camera there again.

The entrance is opened to the east. The front with the entrance hole can be swung upwards. Inside there is a mesh of fence wire so nest materials have no contact to the bottom of the box. The hanging device is made of steel rope and covered with a piece of waterhose. The box is fixed to the tree with strong fence wire coated with green plastic.
 

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House cats kill over 2 billion wild birds in the United States each year thanks to irresponsible owners letting them run free. If my dogs were allowed to hunt cats in my area it would not go over well but to have cats hunting wildlife is viewed as being acceptable.

I mounted my owl nesting box on a 12' pole that is in two sections so I can lower it for cleaning it out. A squirrel baffle keeps any critter from climbing the steel post to get to the nesting box.
 
I'm mounting this box today. The front panel lifts up for easy access. I'm using 2.5 inch stainless steel decking screws and screwing them through the back of the box directly into the tree. This is the method for mounting I have read from several sources and seen in videos.
 

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Jord, Sory for the late reply. A number of years ago I had a local fellow make me about 6 Wood Duck boxes to set along our creek. The State decided they wanted to place theirs along the WMA's shore on the other side. I yanked mine and repurposed them as 'Owl' boxes.

We have quite a few Screech Owls and they seem to move around at will. It is as if they are staying at a motor hotel. Amazon has a number of them. I don't think I would have one with a flat roof... I'd expect it to warp more readily.



Jim
 

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