THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, March 20, 1996 TAG: 9603190124
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Coastal Journal
SOURCE: Mary Reid Barrow
LENGTH: Medium: 93 lines
Folks like me wait for hummingbirds to return in spring. Others keep a watch out for bluebirds, but Earl Keegan is the only person I know who looks forward to the arrival of the screech owls.
The Alanton resident has had screech owls nesting in three boxes in his yard for at least three years now. About five years ago, he built the boxes out of rough cut cedar, according to screech owl specifications, and nailed the boxes 15 to 20 feet up in pine trees in his yard.
Keegan is a retired Navy pilot but he has a degree in forestry, which must be why he wasn't dissuaded from nailing a box 20 feet up in a tree. That's not to say that Keegan doesn't enjoy other birds, too.
He has devised a bird house with a sliding door on one side that he can open. When he opens the door, a glass pane provides a window on the world of the baby wrens or chickadees inside. Keegan also has two woodpecker houses that have successful tenants every year.
But the screech owls are his favorite. After he began regularly hearing the tiny little birds' eerie calls in the evening, he decided to put up houses for them and he was soon rewarded for his efforts.
Now when Keegan's son, David, comes home to visit in late winter, Keegan relies on him for two things, to turn the mattress on the bed and to clean out the owl boxes. Within four days of David's visit this year, two owls had taken up residence, he said, and he is sure a tenant for the third house will arrive soon.
``They must have been sitting in the trees just waiting for him to clean them out,'' Keegan said.
Screech owls come in two color phases - red and gray - and Keegan has one of each. The red one must have been a youngster last year, Keegan thinks, because the little bird is skitterish. If Keegan as much as steps off the garden path toward the owl, it pops right back into the box.
On the other hand, the gray owl appears to be an old pro when it comes to disturbances in the yard. ``I walk back and forth with the lawn mower and he turns back and forth to watch me,'' Keegan said.
``See how inquisitive he is,'' Keegan added, looking up at the little owl who was looking down at us intently.
Keegan has never seen baby screech owls nor has he seen any evidence of babies, but he has heard them. ``We could hear them all the time, scrambling around in the boxes.''
Keegan says he's fallen into calling the little birds ``he'' and according to the Audubon Society Encyclopedia of North American Birds, he's probably right. The female usually does all the incubating of the eggs, but the male may often roost during the day in the same tree hollow or box where the female is tending to her duties.
Although nocturnal, the little birds can face into the brightest sunlight when they roost, like Keegan's birds do. Despite the bright sun, they still have the ability to see Keegan, his lawn mowers and whatever else is down below.
At night, the male leaves to hunt, mainly little rodents, and then usually returns with a meal for the female, too. Keegan said he often sees the guys go off to work, generally leaving their boxes around 6 p.m. each day.
Besides enjoying the delightful scene on sunny days when the little owls poke their heads out of the boxes to soak up the warmth, Keegan is always on the lookout for other activity.
Once he just happened to look up as one of the owls, followed by three crows, was flying for all his might toward his box. ``I looked up just in time to see him dart right into the house. He didn't even stop,'' Keegan said.
Late one afternoon, Keegan was sitting on his sun porch where he can see his birdbath. All of a sudden, one of the owls flew down and began to drink from it. This also is normal behavior according to the Audubon Encyclopedia. In addition to drinking water freely, screech owls may even bathe in backyard birdbaths at night.
All this makes me want to put up a screech owl box myself next year.
P.S. To keep squirrels off his bird feeder, Earl Keegan coats the pole with motor oil. The squirrels just slide right down, he says, and the motor oil stays thick and slippery and rarely has to be replaced.
VOLUNTEER INTERPRETERS are needed at historic Lynnhaven House. Volunteers will learn about life in Colonial times and some of the early crafts. A commitment of one four-hour shift every other week plus one Saturday or Sunday shift ever other month is required. Call Shirley Bueche at 456-035. MEMO: What unusual nature have you seen this week? And what do you know about
Tidewater traditions and lore? Call me on INFOLINE, 640-5555. Enter
category 2290. Or, send a computer message to my Internet address:
mbarrow(AT)infi.net. ILLUSTRATION: Photos by MARY REID BARROW
A screeching owl peeks out of the nesting box in Earl Keegan's yard.
Keegan designed the owl box and a bird house with a sliding door on
one side that he can open. When he opens the door, a glass pane
provides a window on the world of the baby wrens or chickadees
inside.
by CNB