Barn Owls and Barn Owl Nest Boxes
Jul 24th, 2007 by Birdy Trish
It will soon be time for us to clean out the Barn Owl Box that we put up on a tree earlier in the year. I so hope that a barn owl does nest in it this winter instead of the annoying jackdaws that took it over and are nesting in it now. The Jackdaws should soon be finished with it, we’ll clean it out then to encourage the Barn Owls to use it.
A pair of Barn Owls are breeding a few miles away. They seem to be successfully rearing a young brood. When this brood become adults they will need to spread their wings and fly the nest, so to speak.
Hopefully they will find our barn owl box and it will give them shelter from the storm and shelter all through the winter months. I do hope so.
Barn Owls need somewhere weatherproof to rest. An old barn or the cavity of an old tree. None of the trees near us are big enough for a barn owl to nest in. The Barn Owls don’t seem to nest in the old barns, although we saw a Barn Owl on top of some large bales that were stored inside a barn.
If a Barn Owls feathers get waterlogged they find it difficult, if not impossible to fly well enough to catch food. I know there was a good start to the breeding season for Barn Owls in general, but all this rain is bad for them. They need all the help they can get. Hope I’m doing my little bit to help them. I cannot imagine what it’s like to be so dependent on the weather up to the point where it could be a matter of your life or death – which is what is happening to these Barn Owls.
I will need help with cleaning out this barn owl nesting box. Ladders are not my strong point. Hope I can get enough interest for someone to help me.
There are only about 3,000 breeding Barn Owls in the country. I find that very hard to believe. Barn Owls have been here ever since I was a child. They are part of the countryside. To see one flying soft and low in the sky is one of the basic countryside sights. I cannot imagine a countryside without Barn Owls.
Barn Owls deserve to be here in the future. They need a helping hand. Our hands can help them.
This is the reason I put up a Barn Owl nest box
Tags: Barn-Owl, barn-owls, barn-own-nest-box, jackdaws
I second your statement that we can help the barn owls. My husband built me an owl box a couple of Christmas’ ago but it has been used by the pigeons. Advice on how and when to clean out the nest box would be useful thanks.
Sara from farmingfriends