Wood duck

Did they nest in a convenient place? In one place my son lived they used to lay their eggs all over the town!

I put a large bird house way up in a tree to attract screech owls but the wood ducks got to it first. It worked out well, once the wood ducks were gone the screech owls moved in

Excellent - double value!

There are tawny owls in the wood behind the garden, I can hear them but never seen one. :-(

I hear screech owls, barn owls and great horned owls almost every night but very seldom see them. Tawny owl is pretty small isn't it? You could try a large birdhouse in a tree, I've attracted owls to my yard several times doing that.

Now that is a very good idea, I would love to see them; I have two large oak trees on the back fence - should be ideal. I think tawny owl is about 12 inches high?? I don't know the wing span?

Probably about 30", sounds like it is the same size as our screech owl so I'd imagine roughly the same wingspan. I usually put birdhouses for owls in large oak trees too. If you have meadow/tall grass areas or brush piles nearby they attract rodents and small rabbits so that would attract owls too. I don't know if you'd want to attract rodents though :).

i wouldnt choose to have them in my garden but the woods are just behind us and behind that are fields and allotments so there are plenty of rabbits, mice voles etc. the only thing is my garden is small ~ i imagine the owls would like a bit more space to fly into?

The smaller owls don't seem to mind small areas, I've been able to attract them almost anywhere. I see the larger owls in more open spaces. I've seen them on a gate by the lake, near barns and on top of a utility pole in the middle of a corn field. They have very good vision so I think they like areas where they can scope everything out.

I need a suitable perch in the wood just behind my garden - within reach of a camera lens ideally!

I never see any owls when I have a camera, otherwise it's too dark to get a good picture. I did get one picture with my cell phone of a huge horned owl, I need to see if I can find it. You'll have to let me know if you try it and how it works!

I will certainly let you know, I think its spring when we hear them most?

I hear them all the time but it seems like they've been around a lot more this summer. They do nest in late Spring but raccoons follow human scent to look for food and you won't want them disturbing any owls so it's a good idea to put it up by late winter or early spring. If it gets hot there, keep it out of direct sun too. Some owls don't like being too close to people and the more sensitive ones will abandon the nest if they see you around too often or too close. The little owls are usually very tolerant and hard to spook though :)

I think only tawny owls are there, no little owls and definitely no racoons. There would be no problem from the sun but it sounds as though they wouldn't like it because it would be too near the house, My garden is only short!

You might be surprised, I had screech owls nest in a box roughly 10m from my house. It's the bigger owls that are hard to attract close.

will have to save up for the box or find some wood ~ and instructions!!!

Just line up a few pieces of wood and start nailing them together haha. Don't forget to put an owl sized hole in it too!

that makes sense!!!