Owl Gore, Jr., son of Mr. & Ms. Owl Gore who occupy the box by the entrance of our property, made his debut on Sunday after his mother kicked him out of the roost for not picking up his room. "He just got too big for our coop and had to go," said Ms. Owl. A year ago we erected an owl box on a hill in the middle of our vineyard with 270 degree panoramic views of surrounding mountains and the Pacific Ocean. The penthouse has been vacant, another sign of the region's troubled real estate market. We sweetened the offer with free food: all the gophers and mice you can eat (which we have in abundance below the box). Our neighbor asked, "Did you get an owl yet?" Nope. They have owls all the time. He looked up at our box and observed, "Well, you don't have a perch. Your box needs a perch." Looks like I'll be yanking the 16 ft. pole out of the ground today and attaching a perch. One good thing; I didn't set the pole in concrete. Maybe we'll get that teenage Owl Gore, Jr. to lease our penthouse? What a hoot.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Baby Barn Owl Makes Debut
Owl Gore, Jr., son of Mr. & Ms. Owl Gore who occupy the box by the entrance of our property, made his debut on Sunday after his mother kicked him out of the roost for not picking up his room. "He just got too big for our coop and had to go," said Ms. Owl. A year ago we erected an owl box on a hill in the middle of our vineyard with 270 degree panoramic views of surrounding mountains and the Pacific Ocean. The penthouse has been vacant, another sign of the region's troubled real estate market. We sweetened the offer with free food: all the gophers and mice you can eat (which we have in abundance below the box). Our neighbor asked, "Did you get an owl yet?" Nope. They have owls all the time. He looked up at our box and observed, "Well, you don't have a perch. Your box needs a perch." Looks like I'll be yanking the 16 ft. pole out of the ground today and attaching a perch. One good thing; I didn't set the pole in concrete. Maybe we'll get that teenage Owl Gore, Jr. to lease our penthouse? What a hoot.
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2 comments:
I am so jealous...2 years almost, and no owls. I too do not have perches...looks like our owl condos will have to be retro fitted!
An update, four years later. We did dig out our owl box, put on the perch, and reset the pole. Alas, no owl. Finally, the Queen of the vineyard pulled the pole down. However, an owl has occupied the Mexican Palm adjacent to our house the last two growing seasons. We haven't seen him in a while. Waiting for the return. Meantime, the owl box at our neighbor's house continues to rent out each year.
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