By Bob Wadsworth
February 2021
News of the DNR’s tearing down a barn on the Mima Mounds Preserve wouldn’t have caused a stir in the hearts of Black Hills Auduboners except that the barn was occupied by none other than barn owls who might be getting ready to raise a family. Several of us met at the site to discover that DNR was in the process of tearing down the barn as we stood there. Renee Mitchell, the DNR manager for the site, was more than happy to see us and hear our recommendations for providing another option for the owls.
Immediately after the site visit, Bob Wadsworth and Dennis Plank started investigating alternative designs for a nest box or three. After some research we learned that the bigger the box, the better. Young owls need room to practice flying. With wings that can reach three feet and the need to practice inside the box, we chose the biggest box design we could find. Other features included a large entrance placed near the top of the front wall so that the young birds wouldn’t accidentally fall out while practicing.
It became immediately clear that Dennis would be the master builder. He had built a number of nest boxes in the past and he was the one with the garage full of carpentry tools. The building phase went without a hitch. Every cut matched the diagram and all pieces screwed together as they should.
The installation date came and Renee and the DNR staff were ready with a lift machine to hoist the 50+ pound nest box to the top of one of two poles left standing from the now disappeared barn. Again with perfect measurements, the screw holes aligned to bolt the box to the pole, all while the box sat on the lift’s railing a couple of inches over Dennis’ head.
Now we wait for the owls to come back. Though there was a lot of commotion while taking down the barn, we hope the owls will check out this shiny new nest box. On the possibility that this is not the nest box of their dreams, there are plans to put up a second box on an adjacent pole and on a nearby tree.
