Years ago I hung an owl box on the big maple tree in my yard. It remained owless for years. In the fall of 2023 I moved the box & by the spring of 2024 I had my first pair of nesting owls. THIS is a guide to hanging an owl box properly.
I suddenly became very motivated to find a new place for my owl box when a) the tree it had been taking up space on was cut down and b) I heard a screech owl in my neighbourhood late one summer night.
A screech owl, as you can possibly hear, sounds like a whinnying horse. Now that you know what it sounds like, one evening you will hear it and know immediately that it's a screech owl.
The night I heard that sound in my backyard I immediately started a "Hey Owls, come live at my house" campaign and rehung the owl box paying very close attention to doing everything right.
I put it 13' off the ground, facing S/E, and I pruned away any branches hanging in front of the box opening so the owl has a clear path.
By late winter, Snacks arrived.
Now that you're motivated and realize it is indeed possible to attract an owl with an owl box, even after a decade, read this guide so you do it right.
Table of Contents
Where
- Hang the box from 10 - 30 feet high.*
- The best direction for it to face is South or East (they'll bask in the sun)
- The box can hang facing any direction except North.
- The box must have a clear flight path to it, trim a few branches if you have to.
- HOWEVER, branches right around the owl box opening is a great thing. The owls will use them to hop onto before starting their rounds at dusk and that's where the young will literally learn how to spread their wings and fly.
* I have NO idea how you'd get it hung 30 feet high but that's an option for you if say, your legs are 20 feet long.
When
- Nesting and coupling takes place in late winter/early spring. Beginning in February or March male owls will start looking for a maternity home for his lady friend.
- Owls are always looking for roosts and houses to stop and rest in even if they don't live there. Ergo, the best time to hang your owl box is as soon as you get it.
How
- Stuff a couple of handfuls of dry leaves or pine shavings into the bottom of the box before hanging it. Screech owls don't "make" their own nest, so it needs to be pre-nested. Owls prefer home births. And therefore need a comfy home.
- If you don't have a tree you can hang the box on a pole.
- Make sure the box is hanging level or tipped forward a tiny bit from the top. That way when it rains, water won't get into the box.
- At the end of each season or early in the new year, place another handful of leaves into the nesting box as new nesting material for the owls.
Owls are excellent rodent control but if you have serious mouse issues in your house, my mouse control post is probably going to be more helpful.
Facts
- Screech owls are tiny by owl standards. They're the same height as a starling, but rotunder.
- The noise Screech owls make sounds more like a horse whinny like the one you heard at the beginning of this post. They don't actually screech so don't worry about that.
- Wondering if you have screech owls around you? You probably do. They live across most of North America.
- Owls even have the added distinction of barfing up tiny bones after their dinner so they're pest control and Halloween decoration providers all rolled into one. Owls regurgitate "pellets" full of undigestible material they've eaten. Like mouse bones. If you find a pellet and pull it apart you can tell exactly what the owl has eaten.
You can also build your own Screech Owl house with these free plans.
Snacks did indeed bring a bride to my owl house.
They had an owlet, raised and fledged him. They still use the owl box as their daytime home and will probably do so for the rest of their lives.
And THAT is what can happen if you properly hang an owl box.
Karen, if you are so lucky as to score an owl as a resident, your local school would love to have the owl pellets for grade 9 science. Just wrap the pellets in aluminum foil and heat them up to sterilize them to kill the salmonella - a BBQ might be a good way to sterilize them. Real owl pellets are super expensive ! And difficult to find. (Did you know they make fake perfect pellets out of plastic? Hello - climate change anyone?)
Well we put up an owl box after seeing your original post. We couldn't believe it when owls arrived in February 2021 and February 2022. Sadly this year, no one moved in.
As it was empty, my husband cleaned out the box in late spring, to remove a lot of nesting material from previous years, or maybe squirrels. Hopefully they will return in the fall or spring 2024.
Keep us posted! I think it's interesting that they must be the only bird incapable of "feathering" their own nest.
Here's hoping you get an owl quite literal airBnB house guest soon. Acute acrophobia keeps me off ladders at that terrifying (to me) height. So bravo and kudos to you for the effort.
I hung a locally sourced owl box in our large dawn redwood just last week. We are amazed that already an Eastern Screech Owl has already moved in. We have yet to see them, but the calls are unmistakeable at night. What a treat.
We rescued a fledgling eastern screech owl last May that was in our back yard calling for its mother and being harassed by other birds who saw it as a predator (the mother never answered).
In September, we were given it back to release in our neighbourhood as we abut a forest and stream green space. My husband and I had just been to Point Pelee to watch some of the seasonal bird migration, and I happened to purchase a screech owl box that weekend there (my first time coming upon one)
We put the owl box up in our front yard on the large maple approximately 10’ up, facing east (we can see it from our front window), and released the owl across the street at the forest’s edge that night.
Have heard the whinny trill call thruout the neighbourhood roughly every 7-14 days on an evening walk with the dog since then.
Today at 4 pm, I happened to look up at it from the driveway, and a similar looking owl is roosting in the opening. I am beside myself with excitement.
I do know that the rescue was banded, so time will reveal if this is the same one we released end of September.
Will an owl keep us up at night if we put the house next our home?
I think that’s doubtful. Their call which sounds like a horse whinny, is very soft. They’d have to be in your bedroom to keep you awake, IMO.
I put up a screech owl box in the peak of my shed, sheltered under the roof overhang. The starlings moved in (and pooped all over the door of the shed. I cleaned the nests out every few days. I finally covered the hole and gave up. But my neighbour just saw an owl in the spruce trees close to the owl box so I will open up the hole again and see if an owl may be interested. I imagine that I may be sorry that the box is above the door but if I'm lucky enough to attract some owls, my maple trees are almost big enough to mount a box in one of them.
Good luck!! Let me know how it goes. ~ karen!
Hi Karen
Love the post about screech owls. I love all your posts actually. Trying screen printing is on my to-do list. We have a small city backyard. Two beehives, soon to have 2 chickens. And two crazy small dogs. We also feed and water the song birds. I will size up my trees for a suitable place to put up a screech owl house.
Love your hair by the way. Very stylish. Would you by any chances be will to share details on on colour cut etc? If I may be so cheeky to ask.
Thanks
Hi Jean! Good luck with the owl house. I hope you get one! In this photo my hair was done by a friend of mine. :) ~ karen!
Guessing from the comments that this was originally posted in 2018. Do you still have the box up and if so did you ever attract an owl?
Hi Karin, the post did originally go up in 2018, but I just updated it this week. NO I still haven't got an owl, lol. I've put new leaves in it and am hoping for a change of luck this year. :) ~ karen!
Have faith! We put an owl box up on a pine tree 10 years ago. I gave up. The squirrels moved in and I forgot about it. Last year in March we spotted a pair of owls in the trees around the box and realized they finally moved in. They successfully raised at least one baby. My fingers are crossed they will come back.
LOL!! Wow! That's great. I heard something owlish outside this morning actually and went to the window right away! But nothing. ~ karen!
Admittedly, I am not a cat person...don't mind them but as I am severely allergic will never have one...but my love for my dogs would never allow them to run wild and kill other animals...and run the risk of being eaten in turn.
The age old question...why is it ok for a cat to run loose outside when dogs have to be leashed or fenced in ? It's far safer and healthier for beloved cat pets to be indoor cats and have supervised outdoor time in a controlled environment. My two cents.
We live in the country and have whip poor wills that nest on the ground in late May/ June....many a night I have drifted off to sleep listening to their repetitive calls....we don't allow the dogs out of the yard until nesting is finished. The poor threatened birds have enough issues with foxes, coyotes, etc...they don't need to have to contend with our dogs as well.
We have barred owls and screech owls...hear them all the time...and a really weird sounding one that I'm pretty sure is a saw-whet owl...YouTube has awesome videos
Just a note on cats, they kill 2.4 billion song birds each year in the US and have put many on the endangered species list. Only a small % was because they were hungry. This might be another reason to put them on a leash.
Birds cleaned out my persimmon tree with some 70 fruits on it in one day. I am sure they were singing pretty songs while doing that.
The leash laws here are for cats and dogs. Has been for decades. Unless someone complains its not usually enforced though.
Warning. DO NOT install a screech owl nest in your yard if you own a hunting dog. Upon first reading of this article, I thought OMG.... I don't know anyone who has a screech owl. It was about 2am and I couldn't sleep. So there I sat with my mug of warm milk reading the article. Second thought was why would someone pay $75 for a screech owl nest when you could make one. Third thought was.... I wonder what they sound like and hit that tiny button that said "Learn more". My house was immediately filled with a screech owl -over and over - while I fumbled for my readers so that I could find the mute button. My pointer, who sleeps on our bed at the far end of the house, woke with a jangle of her collar and launched off the bed like a scud missile which propelled the bed with my husband on it across the bedroom. When the bed moved, the pointer crashed into the wall before spending the next 4 hours hunting for the screech owl. Not to admit my sins of waking the household.... at breakfast I asked if anyone heard an owl last night.... never to be heard again in this household. A word of caution.
This design very well may successfully attract Screech Owls ~ but it’s not created with the years of data in mind from Ornithologist and enthusiasts who make boxes for research.
Check designs approved by AUDUBON and you’ll see a 3” diameter opening.
This is optimal because the Owls can easily fit but predators can not!
Because Bluejays and other birds will always hassle Screech Owls trying to drive them out.
The floor should be a minimum of 8”X 8” ... smaller and it can be too crowded forcing Babies to fledge before they are ready decreasing their survival.
Ventilation holes are important too- if it’s a few degrees too hot; eggs can overheat.
Just some design pointers !
Again, this may work as Screech Owls are flexible to a degree !
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My thoughts too. Cuteness does not make a bird home. Always follow Audubon suggestions for the best results. ;-)
I just built a box yesterday and did a lot of research on it. Apparently on the inside, there should be a way for the chicks to get out as sometimes the depth to the floor is too deep and they struggle. I built a wire mesh ladder up to the hole from the bottom. Also, speaking of mesh. the inside should have a raised mesh platform to prevent mites and other insects infesting the nest. Just what I read. This is my first time trying this so I am interested to see if there will be results. We live beside a conservation area in Ontario Canada so with some luck that will help.
Agreed, the squarish opening certainly appears much larger that the 3" diameter recommended for a screech owl nesting box. Last year we had screech owls take up residence in a nesting box I had built for wood ducks. Box and opening sizes are quite similar.
I did my research from the sites you’ve mentioned. Additionally, I read that a natural exterior is preferable, even rough in appearance.
I built mine keeping all these suggestions in mind. I hope I’ll have a happy owl once I hang it. :-)
Not hard? I’ve been trying to hang mine for three days now, and it’s still not done! Admittedly it’s a bit bigger than yours, but it’s not like it’s a five bedroom apartment. The first day I almost had it up, but had to go get a couple more screws. When I was climbing back up to finish the job, it fell on my head. Then it nearly knocked me off my ladder a couple of times, and once I almost drilled a hole in my leg. And of course now I have splinters a-go-go. The problem is that contrary to popular belief, tree trunks are not perfectly vertical, square cross section poles. And that bark stuff; what a pain in the...well, in every joint and muscle in my body at this stage. I tell you what: when I’m finally done, the wee beasties had better be grateful. And they’d come live in it and show me some respect and appreciation for nearly killing myself in order to give them a home!
I have a hunch it would have been easier for you to just climb up the tree yourself, hold on tight and open your mouth so the screech owls had somewhere to land. But that's just a hunch, lol. ~ karen!
My suggestion is take some boards, say 2” x 2” x the width of your owl house. Cut two or three. Attach them horizontally to the tree in a column, like ladder rungs. Screw the owl house into the boards.
Hi, we have had 2 owl boxes in our backyard for years and watched screech owls fledge their young. This year I rigged a webcam inside one - and alas starlings moved in. Sigh. Perhaps camera shy? Hopefully a screech will nest next year...
Oh dear. It's strange they'd move into something like an owl box. I still don't have an owl so I might reposition it next year. Fingers crossed they arrive one day. ~ karen!
how do you keep the starlings and other nuisance birds from moving in?
The hole is way above the bottom of the box so a starling or other bird wouldn't be interested in it. It would be like nesting in a very narrow bucket. Squirrels are the only thing I think might be a problem but so far they've ignored it as well. ~ karen!
Awesome thanks! Almost ready to put up the bat box and will look I look this one next! Thank you!
Mine attracted squirrels right away so I put my box on a 15’ telescoping pole with a squirrel guard around the pole. So far no owls but I keep hoping, 🤞🏼
BB gun
The owl box is great, but I love that hooded sweater!! Do a post about that. ;)
The owl box is so cool! I don't want to be a buzz kill, but you can only do this if you/your neighbors don't use poison to kill mice around your home. You don't want to live out that really sad owl story going around FB. :(
We had an owl box on our barn cupola for years, which every year housed a family of (fittingly) barn owls. In the summer, it was sort of neat to go outside at dusk and watch the teenaged owlets get flying lessons from their parents, back and forth to the tree by our house. The abundant pellets were cool for Girl Scout or school science projects. Alas, new food safety regs in the US have led to us taking it down, as it's by our walnut huller. We still have them around in our orchard, and also great horned owls (holy Harry Potter, Batman, those giant suckers will deliver your mail and take your chickens in payment!). You're in for some fun, Karen.
We have barred owls that nest in box that my son built. The momma is sitting on eggs now. In Ohio, that usually happens in February. It is fun to watch all their goings on and hear their calls at night. We also have lots of owl pellets on the ground beneath the big white pines that they roost in. You can definite tell from the pellets what they have been feasting on. Looking forward to hearing how it works out for you and your screech owl box. I wish you happiness and a successful nesting season!
Thanks Robyn! Here's hoping I get an owl. :) ~ karen!