Dee's Photo and Nature Blog: Owl Box Project

The Owl Box Project (Part 3 of 3)

Teddy and Brice painting the box
white to keep the sun down.

Adding the finishing touches,
as the clouds rolled in.

Loading the truck back onto
the trailer. Time to move on to a
new location!

The final location is field near a
dilapitated barn that will be
torn down.

Teddy, painting the back of the
box before installing it.

A swallowed-tail kite, checking
out the new owl-condo going
up. There goes the neighborhood!

Brice and Teddy, balancing
the box.

Giving the box a final coat
of paint.

Packing the truck back up.
Thanks so much to Maria, Gian, Teddy, Brice, and David from SJWMD, and Ralph, Susan, Steve, Andy, David, Dan, and Sarah from Space Coast Audubon, for helping to make this owl-box dream come true!

The Owl Box Project (Part 2 of 3)

Steve and Ralph, starting box #3.

Steve, putting the hinges on the roof.

The whole workshop, also known
as Dee's garage.

Steve and Ralph, doing some
touch up.

Dee, STILL sanding!!

Andy and Steve, starting box #4.

Steve, Ralph and Andy,
assembling.

Time to call in the big guns --
Susan arrives to supervise!

Susan, putting the final touch on
-- drainage holes in the bottom. Notice the
stack of completed owl boxes behind
her to the left.

Delivering the owl boxes to
Maria Zondervan, Senior Land Resource
Planner at the St. Johns River Water
Management District

Sarah Linney and Dee made
the last two boxes, proving
that it is safe to give Dee pointy
tools after all.

The big day is here: Installation!
By the time Dee arrived* 4 boxes had
already been installed, and the folks from
the St. John's Water Management District were
just finishing up this one.

The barn that will be torn down. Although
we didn't see any owls in this barn, there
was plenty of evidence that they have been
hanging out there (droppings, pellets,
little tiny Mouse-Head beer bottles smashed
on the ground)

Part of the team who installed the
boxes, from L-R: Teddy Spann and
Gian Basili from the St. John's Water
Management District, and Brice Merritt, an
intern who did much of the prep work, including
mounting and painting the boxes.
Not shown is Maria Zondervan who was
instrumental in organizing this.

David Brown, also from the St. John's
Water Management District, handing
one of the new boxes that Dee brought
with her, up to Teddy in the cherry picker.

Teddy and Brice, mounting the
box. This box is mounted just
down the road from where Dee
got her life Groove-billed Ani a few
months ago.

Brice, adjusting the box. We placed dried grass
inside so that some lucky owl will have a
furnished apartment.

The Owl Box Project (Part 1 of 3)

The Owl Box Project began in 2002, when the Space Coast Audubon Society was the recipient of a generous donation which was given in the hopes that we could build owl boxes in memory of a gentleman who loved an owl that visited him regularly. (Click here to read the whole story.)

The hard part of this project was finding the appropriate need. Finally, one day last fall, our vice president, while on a Space Coast Birding and Wildlife festival field trip, found the perfect need. At the Lake Apopka Restoration Area, there is a small group of Barn Owls that have taken up residence in some silos that are slated to be torn down. Seizing this opportunity, Space Coast Audubon decided that this is where our owl boxes should be placed.

After discussion with Gian Basili from the St. John's Water Management District, we decided on our design and built the boxes. On June 2, 2005, the boxes were installed! The Space Coast Audubon Society would sincerely like to thank Gail Jackson whose generous donation has made this possible.