Sounds of the night Among the startling aspects of owl watching, sounds rank high. The signature call, which we've heard at night on and off for years is a loud short sound , something like skreeeeeahh with a crescendo decrescendo character. Some nights we can hear several individuals calling out like this, echoing around the little valley we live in. Another strange phenomenon is a sort of clicking that Barn owls make as they are flying. We've wondered if this is a way mates call to each other. The baby makes yet another sound - sort of like reeeee, reeee, reeee- repetitive on and on through the evening. I think this sound can be captured and shared. We are guessing that it calls out to the parents? Anyone want to hear it posted here or on FB?

If you would like to install your own owl box Here is a rough outline of the necessary parts labor and cost Owl Box $100 obtained from a San Diego box builder 4x4 treated Concrete 2-3 sacks Mounting Bolts $150 Cable PVC , brackets, mounting screws Owl cams, mounting boxes $200 Labor: box assembly; machining and installation 4-8 hrs Software setup, computer 3 hrs Cable installation 4 -8 hrs Cost varies by the design of the box, hardware selected distance from box to a home base etc. We did all our own construction, assembly cabling and software installation, with invaluable assistance from Eric Hogan, our middle son.He is a software engineer and a very able builder.

Phase III- the electronics Once the Owl Box was built and installed, next came the technical aspects. After careful consideration of multiple options, we settled on a hard wired configuration with two cameras.One camera would be mounted on and facing into the box, the other external camera would face the entrance to the box. Both would be day and night cameras. The installation included a custom fabricated waterproof housing attached to the owl barn, dual cables ( one for each camera), conduit, and ultimately a stand alone computer to receive the incoming data. All hardware selection was by Eric Hogan. Yes we had to " pull cable"- conduit was run several hundred feet to the box and it was necessary to thread a pair of very long power over ethernet cables from the point of origin to the box. ( many trips to electronic stores, hardware outlets etc.)Once powered up software had to be located to handle the video signal, again installed by Eric. Bingo!- it worked right the first time, and we had live realtime input- from an empty Owl Barn

Once we decided that having an Owl Box would be interesting, we set about acquiring the needed materials. First came the Owl Box itself. A local artisan makes several types of owl boxes.We tracked him down and had a long chat about how to install the box. Taking the purchased box home was exciting- the project had begun to take shape! The box came with installation instructions- a list of mounting hardware and lumber, concrete etc. One trip to the lumber yard later we had all the needed materials to install the box. Bolts, washers, 4x4s, concrete- a tidy pile of goods! The tools needed for this step include a good drill, drill bits, shovel, wheelbarrow for mixing concrete and good wrenches for bolting everything together once preparations are complete. Locating the box is the optimal location is an issue too- far from the nearest humans makes sense- but the distance means that wireless connections may not work for the electronic components. For budding owlbox enthusiasts, I'd suggest considering this phase of development a one person one weekend project.

Reflections on the Granite Hills Owl project

It began with Connie’s visit to a North County San Diego website. She remarked about how interesting it was to be able to visit a Owl Box website. 

She said that some people became fascinated with Owl cams to the point that they spent hours every day checking out Owl activities.

Exactly what it was that seemed so mesmerizing about peering into the lives of birds was never stated, but the buzz of excitement was unmistakable.

Some months later her observation triggered an idea; if folks in North County had found a way to attract Owls and then and developed a way to observe Barn Owl behavior, maybe we could develop a version of our own.

These simple thoughts generated a wave of activity that has opened our eyes to a whole nocturnal raptor world, which has now lasted many months, and has given friends spread out literally from Hawaii to the East Coast the opportunity to share the lives of East County Barn Owls realtime .

Next ; Phase I - the development and construction

Bob Hogan