Cage Construction Done and Owls Are Here!

The construction of the owl cages is now complete! Actually, it has been complete for a few weeks. There are a few tiny details to finish out, like putting Astroturf on the feeding platforms and perch braces and adding some stumps on the floor of each cage. We just added a few shrubs in each cage a few days ago, so we'll see how they handle being in the shade in clay soil with little access to direct rain.


The huge excitement, however, is that the owls were shipped down to us this past Monday! The Raptor Education Group needed cage space for some Osprey, so it was time for the owls to move on. Trouble is, I wasn't ready for them yet! The security camera system for monitoring the owls still needed to be installed in the cages, we needed to have a public open house to view the cages, and we needed to organize a special event for all donors, volunteers, the media, the Friends of the Houston Nature Center board, and City Council members when the owls were released into the cages.

Erica Broberg, the falconer who takes care of Alice when I'm gone, agreed to house the owls temporarily for me. Whew!! This photo shows the owls just after they were released into their temporary home at Erica's.

In the meantime, we're having a public open house to view the owl cages tomorrow, September 17, from 1-4 PM. This is the only time we plan to allow viewing by the public since these are breeding owls, not education birds. They are not accustomed to humans, and we'd like to keep it that way. They will be raising young owls that will most likely be released to the wild, and it's important for those young owls to be scared of humans, which they'll learn from Mom and Dad.

We're working with Per Mar Security on the camera system for the cages. They're giving us a discount on the cameras (which no other company was willing to do!), but these are high-end cameras, and the cost for each camera/mike setup is just over $1,200. We need five of them. Plus a computer dedicated to run the system and a switch box. So the crunch has begun to hurry up and raise the necessary funds so this system can be in place before the owls move into their permanent home. So far $2,200 has been raised and more potential donors are being contacted every day. You can make a donation online with the donate button at the bottom of this page, and everyone who donates $100 or more will be invited to the special event where the owls are released into the cages.

Creature Comforts

Hein Bloem admiring the nearly completed breeding cage.

Uff da...it's been several weeks since I last posted! I do, however, have an entirely reasonable explanation for not posting: Hein and I got married August 1!!! So yes, I've been a little tiny bit preoccupied. And plus it's been so hot Laurel and Roger can usually only work half days, but they are still working five days a week with few exceptions.

The outside of the cages is essentially finished, so they've been working on the inside. This includes putting up chain-link fence donated by Phillips Fencing, and putting up 1x3 basswood strips on the walls and ceiling. The interior ceiling will be entirely covered with the basswood strips, spaced about an inch apart. Roughly 50% of the walls will also be covered with vertical basswood strips. This allows airflow but gives privacy.

The chain link allows the owls to see out, but keeps them inside the cages. It also prevents talons from poking holes in the shade cloth and screen on the outside of the cages.

Roger also built a feeding platform just to the left of the entrance door. The platform is on the inside of the cage, but has a small door directly to the outside. This way I can put food on the platform without having to disturb the owls by entering the cages.

The coolest thing about the breeding cage is the nest box (pictured above.) It's about a foot deep and has wire screen on the bottom. We'll fill it up with wood shavings and when the owls start thinking about nesting they'll do a LOT of serious digging and scratching in the shavings. (Hence the need for a metal screen on the bottom so they can't go through it, but yet it provides good drainage.)

There is a small door just above the height of the nest on the north wall. And there's a built in ladder on the outside of the cage so I can climb up there to have direct access to the nest from the outside. This will allow for the removal of eggs for weighing, adding orphaned owlets to the brood if ever necessary, removing sick owlets, or anything else that needs to be done at the nest.

Roger and Laurel are now working on the inside of the release training cage. In the meantime I'm figuring out what shrubs or grasses we'll add on the floors of the cages. Photographer and techie friend Alan Stankevitz is working to see what he can suggest or round up for a security camera system for monitoring the owls. Then the only thing left to do is get the owls!

Working on Walls

The north wall of the cages.

Although it's been really hot and humid lately, Roger and Laurel have been plugging away at the cage walls. They are usually only able to work half days because of the heat, but they are making steady progress.

They needed to put in little two foot wide horizontal crossbars along all the walls, every four vertical feet. This amounted to a LOT of little pieces of 2x4s. Next came brace boards bolted on to bring the weight of the roof down to the concrete footings.

Then they put up screen so the owls will be protected from mosquitoes and West Nile Virus (which is often fatal to Great Horned Owls.) Two kinds of screening went up: shade cloth donated by Houston Hoedown Days and charcoal aluminum screen donated by Phifer Incorporated of Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The shade cloth went on the entire north wall plus the sections of the south wall that will be covered with vertical wooded slats. The aluminum screen went on the south wall where there will be chainlink, so the birds can have a better view.

Laurel put on steel sheets two feet high all around the bottom of the cages. This serves to give the birds privacy while they're on the ground and also helps keep the mice IN the cage when the young owls are going to "mouse school" to learn to hunt before being released.

While Laurel worked on the steel skirt, Roger installed showers for the owls. Yes, these owls will have showers over their bath pans! On really hot days I can turn on the shower to encourage the owls to bathe and cool off. This is an especially welcome thing when the owls are molting and itchy and hot and there hasn't been rain for a while.

Putting up the screen was a huge job, but an even bigger job is yet to come: installing the wooden slats and chain link on the inside of the cage walls and ceiling! Hopefully that will start to happen this week!