Photo Phriday 14
#7357585
09/17/21 07:52 AM
09/17/21 07:52 AM
|
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 2,666 Idaho, Lemhi County
Gulo
OP
"On The Other Hand"
|
OP
"On The Other Hand"
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 2,666
Idaho, Lemhi County
|
Back in the day, I worked extensively with boreal owls. Banded hundreds of owlets over the years. Their relationship with marten was rather one-sided, it appeared. Marten seemed to benefit, as the owls were indeed prey items, and occasionally the marten would use the nest boxes for rearing their own young. Young owlet that had just fledged. Adult. Adult female re-entering nest box.
|
|
|
Re: Photo Phriday 14
[Re: Gulo]
#7357638
09/17/21 08:57 AM
09/17/21 08:57 AM
|
Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 10,468 Iowa
trapdog1
trapper
|
trapper
Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 10,468
Iowa
|
|
|
|
Re: Photo Phriday 14
[Re: Gulo]
#7357648
09/17/21 09:07 AM
09/17/21 09:07 AM
|
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 2,666 Idaho, Lemhi County
Gulo
OP
"On The Other Hand"
|
OP
"On The Other Hand"
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 2,666
Idaho, Lemhi County
|
As usual, Tray, excellent photos.
I had adult females return and use the same nest boxes in subsequent years, and had young owlets use "nearby" boxes (within a mile of where they were reared). Most interesting, I thought, was seeing polygyny (one male taking care of at least two nesting females in different boxes) and polyandry (two males taking care of a single female and her nestlings).
Jack
|
|
|
Re: Photo Phriday 14
[Re: Gulo]
#7357770
09/17/21 11:39 AM
09/17/21 11:39 AM
|
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 11,440 Montana ,Rocky Mtns.
Sharon
"American Honey"
|
"American Honey"
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 11,440
Montana ,Rocky Mtns.
|
Amazing shots, Jack, and Tray. Love the owl with wings draped over the box....looks like a cape . Tray, I loved seeing the burrowing owls in Ocala, FLA. They would sit on fence posts as I rode my horse around the area. They were so used to riders they wouldn't fly when we went by them. Here, I enjoy my wee Pygmys. So cute. Love hearing the big owls in the woods too, day and night. Here is my add to the owl theme. They do predate on marten trying to cross open areas on the way to other territories. In Trapper's Post , latest issue.
|
|
|
Re: Photo Phriday 14
[Re: Gulo]
#7357991
09/17/21 05:11 PM
09/17/21 05:11 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 2,666 Idaho, Lemhi County
Gulo
OP
"On The Other Hand"
|
OP
"On The Other Hand"
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 2,666
Idaho, Lemhi County
|
Good question Tray. For several years, I put out and maintained well over 200 boxes. A few of them would be taken over every year by red squirrels, but the use was much higher by flying squirrels. The boreals nest real early. They usually begin courting calls from the boxes in March. I suspect that if squirrels were using the boxes that time of year, they weren't yet with young, and the boreals were able to displace them. I certainly saw no indication that the squirrels could displace the owls. In a few cases, I did have marten preying on boreal owl nest boxes, and also a very few cases of marten usurping the boxes for their own nesting. As an aside, I also had nest box predation by lynx and black bears. On the other hand, I know definitively that if owls are not nesting in the boxes, periodically both red squirrels and flying squirrels used them for nesting (as did kestrels, northern flickers, and Barrow's goldeneyes). All of the boreal research was in Alaska. Down here in Idaho, we have a few owl boxes out, and use by kestrels, flying squirrels, and house wrens is relatively high. Also some winter use (for thermal regulation?) by red squirrels.
Jack
|
|
|
|
|