Hello everyone
I have finally realized why Owls aren't in our neighborhood or backyard even though it is perfect for them.
The reason is simple: There are no holes in the trees. The trees are perfect for Owls to live in, in a area so perfect for them, but there are no holes in any of the trees.
There are lots of trees around here that are over 15M tall.
I am really wanting to look for nest boxes for birds, especially big birds like Owls or Parrots.
Our area is very eco-friendly and there's not a lot of land development going on. (We also have a great local anti-council building group going on that helps us preserve our parks and forests that are around the local area).
I have heard you shouldn't get anything too fancy. Just something great and simple if it's big enough, is that true?
Our area is suited for: Powerful Owls, Boobook Owls, Sooty Owls, Masked Owls and Barn Owls.
We are located on the east coast of Sydney in NSW. Down the street is a forest and behind our backyard is a reserve parkland.
I would really appreciate any help you can get me. Thanks!
If you search this site for nest boxes, there a plans, maybe you could build one, or get someone to do it for you. Sorry, I don't know how to post the links, but there has been plenty of discussion and plan information posted in recent months. Good luck it is a great cause.
Dale Huonville, Tasmania
Thank you. I think i'd love to build my own. I have seen some on the internet where the prices for the boxes are all right but the installation prices by the company providing them are rididulous.
Thank you!!!
Afterwards I can come back on here and maybe update about how things are going if we get owls ... :D
Lack of nesting hollows may be one factor in the absence of owls in your neighbourhood, h.cameron13, but I'm wondering if you've thought about the impact of the cats in your area on owls & bird life in general.
Hey Woko!
I'm pretty certain our cats won't get any birds ... though they are adult they are elderly and don't seem to hunt things too much
anymore ... they prefer to laze around and sleep all day.
The neighbor cat we found out he comes by just to check us out because he gets lonely when his family goes out during the day,
however, we have great backyard security because we have a group of around 8 Noisy Miner Birds in our area, and if they see stray cats or strange cats visiting or coming over our backyard fence, they all get in a frenzy and chase them away at all costs, but they leave our cats alone!!!!!
I'm not too worried about the cat life around the garden at our place. I mean, we have a family of Magpies who love to come out on our garden and dig out worms from the ground. They do this when our cats our outside anyway (our two adult cats since our Kitten doesn't go outside). Our Tortisheshell Angel was drinking water from a bowl and the Magpie was about less than 50 cm away from her. Angel looked up and didn't even care about it and went back to her daily business. Though the Magpie did get a bit nervous about it I was outside at the time and it noticed after a while we weren't unfriendly.
Tiger (The cat next door) usually just comes and goes.
There are lots of great trees in the reserve parkland out the back where we could put the Owl Nest Boxes. They'd be certainly safe from cats there anyway!
I admire your confidence in the subdued hunting behaviour of your cats, h.cameron13. I trust that the local bird life shares that confidence.