Each December I check my dozen Barred Owl nest boxes in Hampstead and 2 or
3 will have a gray squirrel nest in it that I remove. But last year’s
bumper mast crop produced a horde of gray squirrels that are desperately
looking for a place to live and food to eat after this year’s mast crop
failure. Anyone in the area who has a bird feeder will have up to a dozen
or more squirrels at it.
It must be that the owls are busy doing other stuff when the squirrels are
ripping off branches with leaves to stuff in the nest boxes. If they manage
to put enough sticks in the box the owls can’t nest in them. So yesterday
there was one small reward for our eviction efforts. Bob Preble and I
cleaned out a nest box that had two squirrels inside it and another hopeful
squirrel high up in the tree. I was not encouraged, but this morning Linda
was hiking in the area and saw the curve of a Barred Owl head facing out
the entrance. Maybe now is the time when the owls get serious about nest
defense.
This year’s mast crop failure may mean spotty owl nesting next Spring.
We’ll just have to wait and see.
