Screech owls return to nest box home

Like many people I know here in Austin, I was met with disappointment for a long time after installing my screech owl nest box. As a beekeeper, I am often called out to remove honey bees from owl boxes - the bees seem to find them an ideal home, usually high in a tree and of a similar size to natural tree cavities they use in the wild. My own nest box sat empty for many years, before I tried adding some bedding - some straw and oak chips used for barbecue smoking. Very soon after this modification, a screech owl mama moved in. I would see her mate more than I would set eyes on her, the mother remained in the box for the most part while the male hung out in an adjacent tree when he wasn't hunting for food for the new family. When I was fairly certain the babies had all flown the nest, I cleaned out the old bedding and replaced it with new woodchips, since I read that the same mother will often return to a nest box she is comfortable with. I'm happy to report that the nest has now been used three times, and this year I was lucky enough to see the young owls hanging out in a tree with their mother (and possibly father) - 5 owls in total. Since owls love to blend in, the pictures are not high quality but I hope people will be inspired to add their own nest box (with bedding!) and wait patiently for it to become occupied.

-Peter K. / @beesforall