Nest boxes others are using

Chicks in the nestbox at Brow Farm 15 May 2003

HAPPILY IT SEEMS that it's mainly here in Britain that nestboxes for Tawny Owls are so dominated by a couple of unfortunate but officially sanctioned designs. Elsewhere they do it differently. Not so different, perhaps, but different enough to make all the difference. It's all in the dimensions. The floor area is larger relative to the size of the owl, and there isn't the excessive height that makes entry and exit like an assault course. With these simple changes you get a roomy box that's not like something from a battery farm and is easy for parents and young to enter and exit.

This page takes a look at examples of what others are making or buying to put up for their local owls. In the US the equivalent of the Tawny Owl, and a close cousin, is the Barred Owl, Strix varia. Two of the boxes on this page are for this owl, which has similar nesting requirements. At 16-20 in long, though, it's rather larger than the Tawny, which accounts for some of the greater size of the boxes provided for them. The American-style letterbox with its owl-friendly dimensions and lower entrance is an altogether different beast from its english counterpart.

Some examples from the UK show that there are some owl-friendly designs around. Here I include my own as possibly helpful.

If you have, or know of, a nestbox that could be included here, please email me with details (at raham [atsymbol] btinternet.com). Obviously boxes for Tawny Owls are what I'm after, but details of boxes for similar owls with interesting and/or relevant design features would be welcome.

BOXES FOR TAWNIES

Private owner, Ede, Gelderland,The Netherlands

One of a dozen or so tawny owl boxes made by this owner.

Dimensions: 35 cm x 35 cm (sides); height at back 55 cm, at front 45 cm. Entrance 15 cm diameter.

Materials & constrn: timber and nails; Attachment: nailed/screwed back batten.

Photo © Arnold van den Burg

Close to being my perfect box -- just needs a ledge and floor drainage. Design is from Mooij, J.H. (1983) De Bosuil [The Tawny Owl]. Kosmos, Utrecht (ISBN 90 215 1139 8), page 97. Size and proportions are ideal, avoiding the faults of being too deep and narrow. It's thus more like the American letterbox design which I'm advocating on these pages than the cramped British designs.

Find construction plans on the Making Your Own page.

Hawk Conservancy Trust, near Andover, Hampshire, S England

Tawny Owl box in the Trust's grounds.

No further details. Material appears to be heavy-gauge plywood.

Tree attachment: nailed back bar.

Website

Photo © John Baker

Another nice, simple box design with ample proportions. Would be improved by a ledge.

KauzCam, Kempten-Oberallgäu, SE Germany

Tawny Owl box

Owner: Thomas Blodau, Fritz Markert (shown in pic).

Dimensions: 40-50 cm inside diameter x 60 cm high (ca 16-20 in x 24 in).

Materials & constrn: timber, barrel-type construction (shown at right), held together by steel bands.

Tree attachment: Two stainless steel bands welded to back of box.

Camera: IR, since 2006.

Webcam page (german only)

Located in a secluded wood, with its ledge, original design and sheer size this has to be a favourite.

Construction details (but no plans) given in Kauzcam entry on Making Your Own page.

Kauzcam video pic taken on the day female began laying in 2005 shows how roomy this box is.

Barn Owl Centre, Gloucestershire, SW England

General owl box, including Tawny Owl. A design they now use on their own property.

Dimensions: 600 x 400 x 300 mm (l x w x h); 24 x 16 x 12 in. Weight: 15 kg.

Materials & constrn: timber; assembly appears to be with nails.

Tree attachment: nailed back bar.

Webpage (shop). This is also a sold nestbox currently available at £45 + £8 delivery here in the UK. There is also a conventional letterbox type, but the BOC is ceasing production of this model as of January 2007.

Discussed on page 2, this box has nice features but is on the heavy side. The interior is open -- there is no dividing panel as is common in designs for Barn Owls. Photo © The Barn Owl Centre.

Home Farm, Aishe Barton, Devon, SW England

Tawny Owl box

No details given. Appears to be the nestbox sold by the Barn Owl Centre (above).

Tree attachment: On platform made from horizontal battens nailed(?) to branches.

Unknown, Halle an der Saale, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany

Tawny owl boxes

No details of either box. The website (a community site) is difficult to make out/navigate for a non-german speaker! These pics found from a Google image search.

Halle website

Halle an der Saale is about 50 km northwest of Leipzig, in the old East Germany. The blue box is the one I first saw. Apart from its small entrance and lack of ledge, I find its original and homely design appealing. A thoughtful touch is the back-sloping roof, which keeps rain drips off the front. Right: interesting because box is attached to a building and it's being used.

Unknown, Germany

Tawny owl box, location not known.

Photo © by Gerd Rossen (webpage for his tawny photos)

Photo doesn't show whole nestbox. Included here because it does show the stout construction from plank wood and assembly with screws, plus that useful feature, a ledge. A negative feature is the roof, which extends much too far and is too low over the ledge, creating potential headaches for landing owls.

Gerd has a large collection of very good wildlife photos. Perhaps start here on his "About me" page.

God's Own Clay, Kent, SE England

Tawny Owl box

Owner: me.

Dimensions: 11 in x 15 in x 13 in high to inner ceiling panel.

Materials & constrn: tongue & groove pinewood, screw & glue assembly

Tree attachment: cord through two back battens

Camera: IR, starting 2007.

Website: you're there.

Designed to be as unlike the standard UK chimney-type as possible and create a pleasant space for female and chicks. Left pop-up pic (200kb) shows the nestbox in its woodland setting. A feature of this box is its low door, about 5" above the base, which allows observation of the owls. It is not advisable to place it lower as the chicks would be at risk. Right: Box interior. Protruding bolt ends have been taken back since photo was taken.

God's Own Clay, Kent, SE England

Tawny Owl box

Owner: me.

Dimensions: approx 10 in x 20 in x 10 in (owl area).

Materials & constrn: pinned and glued plywood, reinforced with battens and screws.

Tree attachment: cord.

Camera: IR and colour, starting 2007.

Website: here.

A conversion of a commercial chimney box. Top right: the interior, with the owl compartment to the left and the smaller camera compartment on the right. Bottom right: The front panel comes off to give access. In the tree the camera compartment is reached through a removable panel at the right end of the box. Full details of this conversion on page 7. Thomas Blodau of Kauzcam says that they tried a similar long, low design and that it wasn't as popular as their current barrel design. My box wasn't used by our owls this year as they didn't breed.

Plastic drums as nestboxes

This Barn Owl Conservation Network Forum thread, Plastic drums as Barn Owl nestboxes, has quite a bit of information on this. Point is, tawnies seem to like them. Here's an extract from a contribution by Vince Cartwright: "these have proven to be highly sucessful not for Barn Owls but for Tawny Owls and Kestrels, they have been up since 1998 in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire. Tawnys took to them right away producing broods in the first year the boxes were installed, in appearance they are very similar to an std Kestrel nestbox, the size and depth means that they are easy to install and check, at this time april 2002 i currently have two pairs of Tawnys on eggs in these boxes".

Aug 2007: Hoping to have more some time on these water softener drums, where to get them and how to attach them. Meanwhile here's a photo, kindly supplied by Vince, of tawny chicks in one of the drums.

Checking through that long forum thread it seems that condensation and wetness due accumulated chick droppings are not a problem in these containers provided that a sufficient depth of wood chips is provided.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT -- US DESIGNS FOR OTHER OWLS

OwlCam, eastern Massachusetts, USA

Northern Barred Owl box

Dimensions: 14 in x 14 in x 28 in.

Materials & constrn: cedar shingles over pine plank, plywood roof, screwed. Instructions here (maker warns that it's very heavy -- 48 lb!)

Tree attachment: screwed through inside back panel.

Camera: b/w since 1998, colour added end 1999.

Box replaced by a marten-proof version in 2003/04.

Website

Owlcam uses an American-style letterbox with comfortable dimensions and the door at a sensible height. This is the mother in 1998. Note the climbing aid bars at right. The owner comments: "How does a 23-inch owl turn around in a 14-inch room? Slowly -- she sticks her tail up in the air, puts her nose on the ground, and does a klutzy pirouette. She performs this move .. a couple of times each hour as she changes her incubating position." In fact, as the video shows, a mother and chicks have plenty of room.

This Northern Barred Owl cam will be well known to many internet owl nest watchers. The box was put up in 1997, and the camera(s) ran from 1998 to 2003, when that season's chicks were taken by a fisher (marten) while the parents were out hunting. Since then the adults haven't used the box shown here or the marten-proof replacement that was put up later that year. There are numerous excellent sound recordings on a dedicated page and in the day to day reports. Nice "family tree" pics here. No archived footage, though; you have to get the 100-min DVD of the 2001 nesting activities. Owl watchers will look forward to the box being taken up by another pair of Barred Owls soon.

Jan 2007. The OwlCam DVD is five-star stuff, a must-have for any owl lover. Here's my review of The Hidden World.

Chris' Eastern Screech Owl Nest Box Cam, Austin, Texas, USA

Screech Owl box

Owner: Chris W. Johnson.

Dimensions: 8 in x 10 in x 15-16 in.

Construction: series of boxes starting 1998; appear to be timber. Highly complex!

Tree attachment: dowel across inside back lashed to tree

Owl part of website starts here Click on year you want to see.

The Eastern Screech Owl is smaller than Barred or Tawny, but this is a nestbox that's generously sized relative to the owl (8-9 in long). And my oh my what a box! It illustrates so many of the points I've been trying to make about boxes for tawnies that I hope to be able to look at it in more detail some time.

Druid Labs, New Jersey, USA

Barred Owl box

Owners: Mike and Cathy Carroll.

No construction details.

Tree attachment: nailed back-bar.

Website pages: A useful photo essay here on getting the nestbox up its tree in January 2004. A pro at work!

This handsome box appears to have been constructed, and was put up, by the Wildlife Preservation section of the Jackson Pathfinders, a local volunteer environmental organisation. No record of whether box has been used.

Index page

Next page: A look at approved designs, with focus on UK.

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