Sunday, July 12, 2009

Scre-e-e-e-ch

Here is an update on the Screech Owls in my brother-in-law's back yard. They have hatched off and raised their babies. It looks like everyone is doing well and healthy. This is about the third batch of babies that Mike and Chickie have observed from their owl house that Mike built. As I said before, Screech Owls are like most Austinites when the weather gets hot. They love the water and really enjoy a good dip. That "thing" you see in the bird bath is an owl splashing around.





One of the best things about having Screech Owls living in your own owl box is that they are so easy to observe. As you can see, with Chickie looking one over from just a few feet away, they are very tame. They almost look fake, like little owl dolls.

6 comments:

Tabor said...

This is so absolutely cool. I now am definitely getting an owl box for our woods. I will be posting a sad story about owls (on my other blog) in the coming weeks...this post has made me feel much better.

Caroline said...

Adorable! I need an owl howse and a bird bath for my garden.

ESP said...

Hi Bob and how cool is that!
I had no idea that they would be so tame. The owl submerged in the first picture is hilarious. I have to get an owl box going, this post makes me want to set one up tomorrow. Do you have any construction details?

Also your new rain water collection tank described in your last post sounds outragous, how many tanks was it?! Looks like you might be called upon from the Austin Water Authority to top up some of the lakes with all those. That is going to be such a great feeling, knowing every time it rains, you are capturing so much of the wet stuff!

My yard may just be large enough to hold a few of those barrels you featured from Burnet. Do you have any idea how many of these you can daisy-chain together? I could fit four or five of these at the side of my house.

Informative read.
ESP.

Unknown said...

so cool, still no owls here at our new owl house but I think we may have gotten it out too late this year for anyone to settle in it. Hoping for next year.

Cindy, MCOK said...

Bob, that is just the coolest thing ever! I agree, the owls are so still, they don't look real. I know we have one or two owls that hang out on our cul-de-sac at night. I've never seen them, though.

Iowa Gardening Woman said...

How cool! They seem so unafraid.