Quick question: How big is YOUR folders coffee can? Mine is only 9 oz. (kinda small) But I remember my mom's was quite a bit bigger than mine, probably 2x bigger...
up to a couple of inches is fine--if you are in a really cold area then more is needed for insulation for the eggs from the bottom plate of your box@@gardengatesopen
@billgibson--tacticalyakn--outd Thanks for your answer! I'm in Central Texas, in the Hill Country. Sorry I forgot to add that. Our Winters are very close to the same as yours up in N.Texas. I suspect in a "normal" Winter the 2 inches would be perfect. However, if we keep getting those -6° Arctic Storms such as we have had the past 2 Winters, I just don't know... Or has it been 3 Winters now? I'm starting to loose track... I truly dislike those Arctic Storms.
Hi Bill 👋 I looked for an email address on your YT page, but didn't see one. So I'm just going to write to you here. I've got a possible owl sighting question for you. I should warn you, I'm not too good at writing short descriptions! So grab a cup of coffee, this might end up like a short story! First, I'll tell you where I'm located. I'm in The Hill Country, just West of Austin. The area is heavily wooded with old growth Oak trees. My house backs up to a small park that has a creek. The creek creates a nice corridor down into Lake Travis, which is only about 1,200 feet from my house, as the crow flies. Or should I say, as the owl flies! It's normally very quiet & peaceful over here. So there I was, standing in the park in one of the rare places with open sky. The sun had already set behind the hills, and it was just starting to get dark. The trees were all black shadows, but the sky was still brightly lit. Suddenly, over by the creek, about 200 feet away, I heard a big commotion. It sounded as if somebody was breaking a lot of branches, or maybe a wild animal was caught in the brush and thrashing around in it? Whatever it was, it was LOUD and seemed intense! This is not a normal occurrence around here, so I started walking over to get a better view of that area. The sound of branches breaking was getting louder, but because it was getting dark, I couldn't see anything moving around by the creek. I just stood there listening as something continued to crash around breaking branches. All at once this big bird was jetting out of the low tree canopy, and racing right toward me!! Yikes!! I must admit, it did startle me a bit! I was not expecting a bird to be racing toward me!! My first reaction was to think it might dive bomb me! Altho, I'm not sure WHY it would do that! It's just that it was headed straight for me, and flying low too! I felt like maybe I should run for cover, but I knew I would never make it. It all happened so fast! I ended up just standing there, watching this wonderful sight. It WAS flying right toward me, but just as it got over my head, it veered to the left, following the open space I was standing in, and then it disappeared into another Oak treeline. I didn't hear anymore branches breaking. It was very clear THIS was the animal making that big ruckess as it swept through the trees! I was dumbfounded!! I've lived here 25 years and spend most of my time outside. I've never heard, or seen, anything like that before! It was flying fast, and it was flying low, and it was crashing into branches for quite a distance! Probably more than 300 feet of breaking branches as it went along. It must've been flying less than 10 feet over my head! (I'm 5'2") Because it was twilight, I couldn't see any colors to ID the bird. And because the sky was still light, I was gifted with having a perfect view of it's size and shape in a shadow form. What I saw was a perfect black silhouette of a bird against a light blue sky. The spread of it's wings was somewhere between 2 and 3 feet, and they stood straight out from the body. It's body looked like a perfect oval shape, pointed at both ends which reminded me of the old time airplanes from WWII. The girth of the oval was quite hefty too. This was not a skinny bird! The head was close to the body, there was no neck to speak of, nothing like the Turkey Vultures I've seen around here. Plus, it was smaller than the Vultures too. That night I scoured the internet trying to find out if any Owls have the habit of crashing through the trees breaking branches as they go. There was only one I could find, but they are located up North, and don't hang out in Texas. I've been watching all of your videos over and over. We've had a sighting of what is probably a Screech Owl in our yard. One of my neighbors who knows the calls of Screech Owls has told me he's heard them around here. We also had a hawk sighting a while back. What kind, I don't know. We built an owl house to your specs, and put it up in one of our big oaks. We're still waiting for an owl to find it. I'm pretty sure I've got Owl Fever!! And now, here I was, watching this great big bird, much bigger than a Screech Owl, fly directly over my head!! It was AWESOME!!! But the crashing through the trees, loudly breaking branches, has me stumped. (I'm no bird expert!) Unless maybe it was trying to scare up some dinner? I dunno... So my question to you Bill, is this: Do you have any ideas on what it was I saw? Do you think it might've been an owl? Or some other raptor in the area? Signed, Curious With Owl Fever, In The Hill Country
Injustice gas but it could be one of two possible owls. Either a barred owl which are quite large and have about a 3 ft wingspan or it could have been a great horned owl which have a larger wingspan of about 4 ft. My initial guess is that it was a horned owl but both are quite aggressive and I have seen both crashed through underbrush
Bill, how do I order one of your owl boxs Thank you.
Amazing work love your channel👍🏻 try going to your local Lumbermill and asking for their scrap saves money 👌🏻
*its 2024 and they make tripods for cell phone now!*
I just found you today. There is hardly anybody that talks about western Screech Owls?
Wish you shared the plans for us DIY folks
thank you for the great info!
Quick question:
How big is
YOUR
folders coffee can?
Mine is only 9 oz.
(kinda small)
But I remember my mom's was quite a bit bigger than mine,
probably 2x bigger...
I actually already put bedding in my box, I put about 1" depth of store bought pine bark shavings.
Too much?
Too little?
up to a couple of inches is fine--if you are in a really cold area then more is needed for insulation for the eggs from the bottom plate of your box@@gardengatesopen
@billgibson--tacticalyakn--outd
Thanks for your answer!
I'm in Central Texas, in the Hill Country.
Sorry I forgot to add that.
Our Winters are very close to the same as yours up in N.Texas.
I suspect in a "normal" Winter
the 2 inches would be perfect.
However, if we keep getting those
-6° Arctic Storms such as we have had the past 2 Winters, I just don't know...
Or has it been 3 Winters now?
I'm starting to loose track...
I truly dislike those Arctic Storms.
Hi Bill 👋
I looked for an email address on your YT page, but didn't see one.
So I'm just going to write to you here.
I've got a possible owl sighting question for you.
I should warn you, I'm not too good at writing short descriptions!
So grab a cup of coffee,
this might end up like a short story!
First, I'll tell you where I'm located.
I'm in The Hill Country,
just West of Austin.
The area is heavily wooded with old growth Oak trees.
My house backs up to a small park that has a creek.
The creek creates a nice corridor down into Lake Travis, which is only about 1,200 feet from my house, as the crow flies.
Or should I say, as the owl flies!
It's normally very quiet & peaceful over here.
So there I was, standing in the park in one of the rare places with open sky.
The sun had already set behind the hills, and it was just starting to get dark.
The trees were all black shadows,
but the sky was still brightly lit.
Suddenly, over by the creek,
about 200 feet away,
I heard a big commotion.
It sounded as if somebody was breaking a lot of branches, or maybe a wild animal was caught in the brush and thrashing around in it?
Whatever it was,
it was LOUD
and seemed intense!
This is not a normal occurrence around here, so I started walking over to get a better view of that area.
The sound of branches breaking was getting louder,
but because it was getting dark,
I couldn't see anything moving around by the creek.
I just stood there listening as something continued to crash around breaking branches.
All at once this big bird was jetting out of the low tree canopy, and racing right toward me!!
Yikes!!
I must admit,
it did startle me a bit!
I was not expecting a bird to be racing toward me!!
My first reaction was to think it might dive bomb me!
Altho, I'm not sure WHY it would do that!
It's just that it was headed straight for me,
and flying low too!
I felt like maybe I should run for cover, but I knew I would never make it.
It all happened so fast!
I ended up just standing there,
watching this wonderful sight.
It WAS flying right toward me,
but just as it got over my head,
it veered to the left,
following the open space I was standing in,
and then it disappeared into another Oak treeline.
I didn't hear anymore branches breaking.
It was very clear THIS was the animal making that big ruckess as it swept through the trees!
I was dumbfounded!!
I've lived here 25 years and spend most of my time outside.
I've never heard,
or seen,
anything like that before!
It was flying fast,
and it was flying low,
and it was crashing into branches for quite a distance!
Probably more than 300 feet of breaking branches as it went along.
It must've been flying less than 10 feet over my head!
(I'm 5'2")
Because it was twilight,
I couldn't see any colors to ID the bird.
And because the sky was still light,
I was gifted with having a perfect view of it's size and shape in a shadow form.
What I saw was a perfect black silhouette of a bird against a light blue sky.
The spread of it's wings was somewhere between 2 and 3 feet, and they stood straight out from the body.
It's body looked like a perfect oval shape, pointed at both ends which reminded me of the old time airplanes from WWII.
The girth of the oval was quite hefty too.
This was not a skinny bird!
The head was close to the body,
there was no neck to speak of,
nothing like the Turkey Vultures I've seen around here.
Plus, it was smaller than the Vultures too.
That night I scoured the internet trying to find out if any Owls have the habit of crashing through the trees breaking branches as they go.
There was only one I could find, but they are located up North,
and don't hang out in Texas.
I've been watching all of your videos over and over.
We've had a sighting of what is probably a Screech Owl in our yard.
One of my neighbors who knows the calls of Screech Owls has told me he's heard them around here.
We also had a hawk sighting a while back.
What kind, I don't know.
We built an owl house to your specs, and put it up in one of our big oaks.
We're still waiting for an owl to find it.
I'm pretty sure I've got Owl Fever!!
And now, here I was,
watching this great big bird,
much bigger than a Screech Owl,
fly directly over my head!!
It was AWESOME!!!
But the crashing through the trees,
loudly breaking branches,
has me stumped.
(I'm no bird expert!)
Unless maybe it was trying to scare up some dinner?
I dunno...
So my question to you Bill, is this:
Do you have any ideas on what it was I saw?
Do you think it might've been an owl?
Or some other raptor in the area?
Signed,
Curious With Owl Fever,
In The Hill Country
Injustice gas but it could be one of two possible owls. Either a barred owl which are quite large and have about a 3 ft wingspan or it could have been a great horned owl which have a larger wingspan of about 4 ft. My initial guess is that it was a horned owl but both are quite aggressive and I have seen both crashed through underbrush
hello, are these for smaller owls? i see some of your other boxes have a landing pad, do you add a landing pad for screech owls, thanks
Great info Bill. Many thanks !
What size it that box tall wide
These are made from cedar fence pickets, they're $2.98 at Home Depot so max $9.00 for wood.