Our Nest Boxes

As chair of the New Hope Audubon conservation committee, I set out to find the most suitable nest box for our Barn Owl Initiative. After several weeks of research, I came upon the work of Mark Browning, a researcher and animal trainer for the Pittsburgh Zoo. Not only had Mark designed the perfect nest box for our purposes, he had years of experience with Barn Owl restoration projects.

Mark Browning studied Barn Owls for many years in his home state of Pennsylvania, and was unimpressed with traditional designs for nest boxes. The boxes were typically made of wood, and were subject to rot. They were often not deep enough to prevent predation. A hungry Great Horned Owl, the top predator of Barn Owls, could snatch an owlet from a box that wasn't properly made. What Mark came up with is the plastic molded box pictured below:

A molded plastic box has many advantages. Because it is lightweight, it can easily be installed on a small diameter pole. It is also more durable, able to withstand many years of punishment from the wind, rain, and sun. It can also be easily placed in an agricultural field, where Barn Owls are more likely to be drawn to the large, conspicuous nest hole.

The boxes are not inexpensive. They run about $169, plus the cost for the pole and other elements. New Hope Audubon uses a sturdy, wide diameter pole system that brings the total cost to about $250 per box. The costs, however, are alleviated by the fact that these boxes do not need to be replaced every few years.

Mark Browning's nest boxes have been used successfully in such diverse settings as the Florida Everglades and California wine country. Mark has shown that use of plastic molded nest boxes dramatically increases Barn Owl populations in California vinyards, where they eat copious amounts of pocket gophers. Because pocket gophers can do inestimable damage to grape vines, vinyard owners are praising the economic value of having Barn Owls on their property. Integrated Pest Management systems such as these have also been successful at reducting rodent populations in Florida sugar cane fields.

For more information on these Barn Owl boxes, and Mark Browning's work, visit www.barnowlbox.com. More information on using Barn Owls for pest management can be found at this link. We hope to have Mark come down and give us a guest lecture on his work in 2014.