Saturday 2 February 2013

First Boreal Owl nest box outing



First off we want to thank Tina Lenard for putting a rush on our permit. Two days before meeting up with Keith we were informed we needed a permit to place nest boxes in Provincial Parks. Explaining to Tina situation we were in and needing the permit for the weekend she put a rush on this and she came thru for us. So thank you once again Tina.
Also we would like to thank Ducks Unlimited Canada and their partner newwalta for providing funding for our project this year.
We headed out this morning Feb2nd to meet up with Keith Brown a park ranger at Butter Pot park. As mentioned this would be the site of the first boreal owl nest boxes for the year. Keith provided us with some amazing information about the owls in the park and showed us the first recorded photo of a boreal nesting in one of his nest boxes. He told us many stories about various birds and animals that call Butter Port their home and we were both blown away at the amount of sightings he has had over the years of different species.

He took us around to show us nest boxes that he has placed in the park so far and gave us detailed information of places he felt would be good for our boxes. So off we went and installed 4 boxes thru out the park. The habitat looks perfect for the owls and from what Keith said there are lots of voles around. Below you can see a shot of Brendan installing our first nest box. Man can this kid climb and any time I thought there was no way he would get up the tree sure enough he did. We’ve also included a video and some pictures of a few Gray Jays that were hanging around outside of the main camp where we meet Keith. There was a heavy snow fall the whole morning so taking any shots of the Jays was difficult so we will return to do a session with them when we check the boxes.
The four nest boxes we installed this morning

Brendan listening to one of Keiths many stories 

Brendan installing our first Boreal owl nest box of the year

Brad's picture of one of the Gray Jays in the area 


Brendan's picture of one of the Gray Jays  

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