I haven’t seen a barred owl in 50 years at my farm in Wisconsin but I hear them most nights when I’m there. When I was a kid, I was into taxidermy for a couple of years, and I’ll admit I shot a barred owl and mounted him. Just about the easiest bird in the world to mount with feathers that make the body look twice it’s size so it was easy to hide my amateur mistakes.
I only have about 35 acres of woods on my property but the adjacent property has about 200 acres of woods. Part of it was logged and thinned last fall so there is a chance their nesting tree was cut down or area disturbed enough to look for a new site. Ideally, I should’ve got my house up last fall, but I just built it over the winter for a project. Just the kind of project I like where I’m not left with something I don’t need taking up space.
There are different ideas about using treated plywood to make the box. I decided it to go with untreated plywood. I used some of that self adhesive roofing tape for the top and back to hopefully shed water and extend its life. Then I applied about 5 coats of linseed oil to the exterior wood on a nice hot day and let it soak in.
To accommodate for tree growth, I used flat T shaped steel brackets (Simpson Strong Tie) and hanger bolts with a coil spring and lock nut to allow for expansion. There are also conflicting recommendations which direction to point the box. Since this up north, I faced it Southeast. Down south they recommend facing them North. I figure in Wisconsin they will like a little sun coming through the trees in the late winter and early spring.
I found an old pulley and rope in my shed. My sister pulled it up and I hooked it over the hanger bolt. Not sure if I’ll ever get owls. Barred owls are very shy staying in the woods so I made sure it’s well off any area I go to. I read conflicting information whether the owls will evict squirrels if they like the box.
I was reading something a few years ago about a Great Horned Owl, that if the young owl falls to the ground, they actually have some kind of appendage on their wing joints to climb their way back up the tree. Not sure if a Barred Owl has that. This house is about 17 feet off the ground. I read in advance that it should be between 15 to 30 feet. If it’s been any higher than 20 feet, I wouldn’t have made it since that’s about as high as I ever wanna climb. I would’ve thought they would want to be higher in the tree, but I imagine with their young being prone to fall they don’t wanna be too high up.
Obviously, there’s a good chance I never get owls in the box but it’s worth a try. I think it said that boxes should be at least a quarter-mile apart. I’m not interested in making any more nest boxes but I imagine the owls are very territorial. I may add a perch just below the hole. I see the occupied Barred Owl box near Indianapolis on the Cornell Labs bird cam site has a piece of branch for a perch.
I only have about 35 acres of woods on my property but the adjacent property has about 200 acres of woods. Part of it was logged and thinned last fall so there is a chance their nesting tree was cut down or area disturbed enough to look for a new site. Ideally, I should’ve got my house up last fall, but I just built it over the winter for a project. Just the kind of project I like where I’m not left with something I don’t need taking up space.
There are different ideas about using treated plywood to make the box. I decided it to go with untreated plywood. I used some of that self adhesive roofing tape for the top and back to hopefully shed water and extend its life. Then I applied about 5 coats of linseed oil to the exterior wood on a nice hot day and let it soak in.
To accommodate for tree growth, I used flat T shaped steel brackets (Simpson Strong Tie) and hanger bolts with a coil spring and lock nut to allow for expansion. There are also conflicting recommendations which direction to point the box. Since this up north, I faced it Southeast. Down south they recommend facing them North. I figure in Wisconsin they will like a little sun coming through the trees in the late winter and early spring.
I found an old pulley and rope in my shed. My sister pulled it up and I hooked it over the hanger bolt. Not sure if I’ll ever get owls. Barred owls are very shy staying in the woods so I made sure it’s well off any area I go to. I read conflicting information whether the owls will evict squirrels if they like the box.
I was reading something a few years ago about a Great Horned Owl, that if the young owl falls to the ground, they actually have some kind of appendage on their wing joints to climb their way back up the tree. Not sure if a Barred Owl has that. This house is about 17 feet off the ground. I read in advance that it should be between 15 to 30 feet. If it’s been any higher than 20 feet, I wouldn’t have made it since that’s about as high as I ever wanna climb. I would’ve thought they would want to be higher in the tree, but I imagine with their young being prone to fall they don’t wanna be too high up.
Obviously, there’s a good chance I never get owls in the box but it’s worth a try. I think it said that boxes should be at least a quarter-mile apart. I’m not interested in making any more nest boxes but I imagine the owls are very territorial. I may add a perch just below the hole. I see the occupied Barred Owl box near Indianapolis on the Cornell Labs bird cam site has a piece of branch for a perch.
