Jan 30 2010
Owling at Deer Flat NWR
A couple days ago Jimmy Yorgenson and I checked some Wood Duck boxes on the south side of Lake Lowell. Water level is rather high this year and we feared that we may not be able to get to all of the boxes. As luck would have it we were able to reach 30 of the nest boxes. We repaired some and added clean shavings to others for bedding. It will be impractical to get to the remainder of the boxes until water level is lowered.
There was evidence that some of the boxes had been used by Wood Ducks last year. Also many of the boxes had small owl pellets inside. Five of the thirty boxes had live Western Screech-Owls in them. One had a pair of owls. One bird was banded last year as an adult setting on eggs. Another was banded as an adult in 2008 using the same box as this day.
On this outing we also observed three Great Horned Owls and one Barn Owl perched or flying through the trees. This was a great day for owls!