Comments on: Nest Box (Birdhouse) Plans

By: Larry

Larry — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 05:29:17 +0000

@Amy Barn Owls will take young gophers but mostly eat mice and voles. Great Horned Owls and hawks will take gophers but they don’t take to bird houses, you just have to be lucky enough to have one close by.

You could try barn owl houses but gophers are more likely to be taken by snakes, dogs or coyotes.

You can find the bird checklist for Mariposa County here: http://mariposa.yosemite.net/audubon/mariposa_checklist.htm

By: Amy

Amy — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:52:23 +0000

Help with birdhouses! Actually, more like help with birds! I have 7 acres in Mariposa County and would like to attract owls to help with gopher and rodent problems. I am just not sure what owls we might have. I see from googling that there is the spotted owl but that it is endangered so there might not be any in our area. Any help on what other owls there are or birds that will help eat such rodents?

By: Larry

Larry — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 15:53:22 +0000

@Justin this is a very good point. I will email your comment to Joan in case she didn’t get back to read it.

By: Justin

Justin — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 19:05:47 +0000

Joan, I have 24 bluebird/treeswallow nest boxes on our Doty Ravine Preserve and they all have a round 1 – 9/16″ opening. It seems to work well. We had 1 bluebird pair this season and 17 tree swallow pairs nested and produced eggs/fledglings this year. Are you sure it is the opening or is the box in a bad location? My preserve is about 4 miles north of Lincoln, CA. in an open grassland.

By: Larry

Larry — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 18:54:58 +0000

@Joan I have never used the oval opening for any of my nest boxes. I have had much success with the round 1 1/2″ opening for Tree Swallows though. Let me know what species of swallow you are trying to attract and I will give you all the help I can.