NEST BOXES: If you build it ... they may come ... owls and 
nest boxes ... today ... on Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

What would you call a wooden box intended for owls?

02 -- It would be called an owl box.

I really need to start making these questions harder. 
Ornithologist, Cliff Shackelford says manmade owl boxes 
are a "stand in" for what nature provides.

07 -- What these owls would do is look for a cavity in a tree -- a 
hollow in a tree -- and that's what this box is replacing.

The Barn Owl and Eastern Screech Owl are two wide-
ranging owl species in Texas, with different needs. 

15 -- They use different size boxes. The Barn Owl is much larger 
than the Eastern Screech Owl. And you can go online on the Parks 
and Wildlife website; we have blueprints on how to make these 
boxes for these birds. Or you can just go online [to other sites] 
and find other blueprints and make them [the nest boxes] to your 
liking.

Owls make some people nervous because they are 
raptors and have strong hooked beaks and sharp talons, 
but Cliff Shackelford says, fear not.

14 -- The good thing about owls: they're good neighbors to have 
because they eat a lot of rodents. Screech Owls eat a lot of 
roaches. The wood roaches. The big ones that are outside. So, it's 
good to have owls, because they're keeping these things that we 
consider pests in check.

Cliff says owl boxes work best in areas where you have 
good tree cover. I have a link where you can find the 
measurements for nest boxes and bird houses 
appropriate for common species at passporttotexas.org.
 
For Texas Parks and Wildlife, I'm Cecilia Nasti.


	
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