A sharp-eyed former student of mine Robbie Frey contacted me with a neat find.

“Mr. Reed, in case you’re interested, I have a screech owl nesting in one of my wood duck boxes.”

Well you know my response, and within two days I was climbing a ladder and checking in on the progress. The initial check revealed four eggs and a red (rufous) phase female in the box. A few days later Robbie checked and told me that the nest now contained five eggs.

I’m probably using the term NEST too loosely because a screech owl uses very little nesting material. In a natural setting, the owl would probably use an abandoned woodpecker cavity and lay the eggs on the wood chips that remained. Eventually she will regurgitate some pellets (dried “fur balls” basically) and they add to the nest.

I asked Robbie to check the box once or twice over the next few weeks to see when the young begin to hatch. About a month later there were five white fuzzy balls huddled in one corner. All five eggs successfully hatched. Since the young grow quickly and leave the nest in about 30 days I wanted to photograph them when their downy feathers were being replaced by the adult plumage and flight feathers.

I estimated the young were about 17 days old so I brought my wife along to enjoy the show and Robbie carefully lifted two of the downy owlets from the box. “Mom” owl sat quietly in one corner and offered no resistance.

To clarify something, I learned banding from Judy Wink, the former naturalist at the Carbon County Environmental Education Center, and she assured me that taking a young bluebird or owlet from a box, banding it, and quickly returning it would have no effect on the success of the brood. I did band a number of screech owls before, and as you know, birds have a terrible sense of smell.

However, mammals such as deer would very likely reject a fawn if you handled it. Please note, if you do find bird nests, frequent visits to the nest can blaze a trail for potential predators like feral cats.

Screech owls are very nocturnal and will generally find a natural tree cavity or nest box in which to roost during the day. They reach 9 to 10 inches in size and are good predators feeding on large insects, earthworms and small rodents during the summer. In colder weather they will prey on mice, shrews or small birds. It may surprise you to know that screech owls will eat small fish and even crayfish.

The owl boxes that I monitored were most successful at attracting owls when placed near a small stream or water source. Robbie found remains of brook trout in this box. Dave Hawk and I discovered a few “brookies” in a nest box along the Blue Mountain many years ago. We found a meadow vole in Robbie’s nest box which the dutiful male placed there for his mate to eat.

We have a lot “nature” things around us, so get out there and enjoy. Keep those eyes open.

Test Your Outdoor Knowledge: True/False, The tongue of a frog or toad is exceptionally long and attached to the rear of the mouth much like ours.

Last Week’s Trivia Answer: Surprisingly, a study revealed that about 55% of “whitetail “ fawns born are male.

Contact Barry Reed at breed71@gmail.com.