What do you have in mind? What kind of owls? Owls are pretty social here (big white faced ones). They like a clear path to swoop in and out. Most folks around here just have holes and a pirch in the gable of the barn with a box inside. I've seen boxes in one form or another on top of poles or roofs also. Another common companion is Kestrel falcons. They like the gable holes with just a shelf inside. Dave

Animals can be so strange....you may put all your time and effort into building just the right box, selecting a 'perfect' site, and then....nothing. Or the opposite may happen, and it will seem as if they were sitting around WAITING for you to get their new home up and going for them. I think it's different for everybody, but you will have to be PATIENT. Years ago we got a booklet from the DNR that had blueprints and general info for houses that were specific for each species. We looked it over and chose to make wood duck boxes, thinking they would have a place to nest by our pond. What we learned, in fact, was that many species simply don't care if a box is not "designed" for them...if they can get their bodies through the hole, there's nobody already at home (depending on the animal this may not matter either) and the place seems safe enough, it's a done deal. Not only will screech owls use a duck box as a day haven, they will indeed nest and rear young in them. There is a slough I frequent that has three duck boxes on it, and during one spring I discovered one particular box was home to a nest of screechies. I think the slough was dry that year, but usually this box is surrounded by about 2 1/2 feet of water...a rough first flight for any chick. I can't recall how many chicks were in that nest...I will have to try to dig out the animal album and find the photos. But they will use a duck box. When we first hung out duck boxes here at our place, I was getting frustrated waiting. It was something like three years before we finally found a nest, and then all three boxes had action!! It's worth the wait, so hang in there. But I'm still waiting for bats to use their house....I don't think they need any extra places with all the shagbark hickories. But the winner in my Crazy Nester category goes to the bluebirds at my dad's place. For the past three years, there has been a pair of bluebirds nesting in his martin house. Not a thing to be seen of any martins, but these blues are shoulder to shoulder with house sparrows and to this day I don't yet understand how they are pulling this off.

I got one built by a good friend of mine after hearing an owl hoot in Fall a few years ago. We downloaded the plans from the web and used cedar to build the box. He mounted it ~20ft up on a PVC pipe and tethered the pole between a pine and a mulberry. Except that the owl never showed up-actually I haven't heard it again. But in the meantime, gray squirrels enlarged the hole and moved in. They have been living there ever since. I figured it is giving shelter to some creature especially in brutal winters such as this one and let it be. Squirrels are quite smart and will take advantage of any structures given half a chance. Mounting your box away from trees and securing it to a wooden pole covered by a smooth PVC pipe/sleeve might do the trick.

gardenspice, all I've noticed here in my own yard occasionally is a barn owl hunting and its always a thrill when we see her....she's a big girl ;) And we don't have a barn. She made two swoops right before daylight just a couple of weeks ago..... Low over my roof and past my kitchen window (startled me making coffee) to the steep downward slope on the back of our property. I don't know where she nests, we've looked all around the neighborhood with bino's and can't find her 'home'. We luckily stumbled on a migrating snowy owl when at the beach to dig clams, very pretty. The hatch I mentioned seeing was Moni's horned owls in Oklahoma, I started watching them just as they hatched last year and was interested enough in how they developed to have it noted on my calendar to begin checking that window planter camera again this season.