Owl Boxes

whyulittle · 18-10-2011 05:48PM

Have you provided any special habitat or just the boxes?

snipey · 18-10-2011 09:17PM

just boxes but the habitat is just perfect,very quite and there is tillage and a new plantation of broad leaf tree's where there is alot of tufted grass which is full of white toothed shrew,and that's all their eating i've checked load's of pellets and all in them is that new shrew,i reckon they could be the come back of the barn owl

Pie Man · 18-10-2011 09:45PM

Does it really matter what direction you have a barn owl box facing, If you put a box up facing west will they use it.

snipey · 18-10-2011 11:04PM

usually my owl boxes are in doors as in a barn or old castle so there is plenty of shelter and any of the out door boxes are so deep it doesn't really matter but your not supposed to face them south as the summer sun will heat them up too much plus the south westerlies will blow into them in the winter so i usually face them north.

snipey · 11-03-2012 10:02PM

just got my first bit of footage from an owl box IR cam,not very exciting but it should be good when the chicks are being fed,it's on youtube under clonmel owl.

LostCovey · 12-03-2012 07:53AM

Fantastic work.

That shrew might be the saving of them.

snipey · 12-03-2012 11:09PM

that's all they seem to be eating so your right i'd say the white toothed shrew is doing them no harm, i saw three adult owls tonight in the same barn.

Half-cocked · 20-03-2012 09:15AM

It looks like we have at least 1 barn owl here in Baldoyle, Co Dublin. Saw one glide through the garden last summer and my wife saw one last night, perched on the kitchen roof! There are a lot of rats around and a derelict building nearby - ideal habitat.

Does anyone know if barn owls use regular perches to hunt from? If it is using our kitchen roof to spot rodents from it might be worth setting up an IR camera. There are certainly signs that rats are coming into the garden after spilt bird ffod.

snipey · 20-03-2012 11:34PM

owls are mating at the moment so if you go for a stroll at dusk you might see them playing,as in flying around and calling,you might be lucky and find where there nesting and they do use the same perch for hunting.

Traonach · 20-03-2012 11:57PM

Greater white tooted shrew are displacing Irish Pygmy shrews and appear to be causing local extinctions .

Half-cocked · 21-03-2012 10:36AM

Traonach wrote: »

Greater white tooted shrew are displacing Irish Pygmy shrews and appear to be causing local extinctions .

Then we need to introduce something that eats white toothed shrews;)

But seriously, this is yet another disaster in the making for a native species.

snipey · 24-03-2012 06:54PM

got a nice bit of footage of owls in a box mating she should be laying in a couple of weeks,it's on youtube under clonmel owls

Owl Boxes

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