Testimonials
Our first Owl Shack inhabitant has arrived! A beautiful screech owl, its face perfectly framed by the Owl Shack’s square entrance. Wow! We are ecstatic. We now have a resident owl to take out the field mice around here. It took less than two months for this voluntary occupancy. The owl shows its face each evening, and this morning “Owly” was observing from the shack entrance as it rained. The owl appeared to be perfectly dry, thanks to your Owl Shack design. For anyone looking to attract screech owls, your Owl Shack is the ticket. Your design is simply the best! It worked for us. Thanks also for the clear instructions on how and where to mount it properly.
Put up one of your owl houses in my backyard last November — didn’t get a resident last winter, but one just moved in this week! My husband and I are both so excited! Can’t wait to see if we get some babies in the spring! I shared these pictures with several of my co-workers, and several have expressed interested in purchasing a house. I’ve shared your website with them. Thank you!
I am mailing an order form and a check to you today for an order of an Owl Shack. This is a present for my father who is an avid bird feeder and watcher whose birthday is at the end of the month. I know that your normal turnaround is 3-4 week but anything that could be done to expedite the delivery would be greatly appreciated. I look forward to seeing the Owl Shack and hopefully an owl.
Just took our first pic of Lovey (Thurston Owl’s wife) in our Owl Shack. Looks like she is fat and happy at 9am this Sunday morning, I just looked up and saw her perched there! We are so very excited and wanted you to know! My wife is over the moon!
This year we have twin babies. What fun!
I purchased an Owl Shack 2 years ago and my family has greatly enjoyed our resident owls! Thank you.
This owl showed up the day of my wife’s studio show — and it was a hit for much of the day and helped with her sales. Many folks seemed serious about Owl Shacks, too! She seems unusually big — and continues to hang out here. We’ve never seen an owl stay in fall or winter. It’s a great delight. Thanks for helping to bring such enjoyment.
I ordered one of your houses this past summer. I installed it in a tree in my backyard. It sat empty, but on Monday a little fellow poked his head out! Almost gave me a heart attack. I have named him Ollie. I am wondering what their range is. I mean, how close to this owl house can I install another one? My neighbor down the street is having a rat problem. Thanks very much for your expertise and for the Owl Shack. I am very excited about my new “renter.”
Thank you Santa! All I wanted for Christmas was an owl to move into my Owl Shack and he did! We have named him Alford, er , OwlFord. He loves his Shack!
I am so excited that after 5 years of having our Owl Shack in our backyard with NO tenant that I looked up during the light of day and saw a beautiful screech owl in my Shack! I will send a picture as soon as I can get a good close up. I did want to ask because I thought it strange that it will sit for hours and I mean hours during the day, starting at 8am till 6pm in the entrance of the box and I can go up to the tree and it will stay there, sometimes he has dropped down into the box but for the most part it does not mind my being there. It watches me and my dogs, sometimes the eyes are open and sometimes not, but it is watching what I do and where I go. I’m just thrilled; I just wish I knew it was coming to visit because I would have had the box spiffed up! My neighbor across the street from me put up an Owl Shack a few months ago and within one month of having it she had an owl. Getting to see God’s creatures in nature for me is a LOVELY JOY! Thanks so much for the Owl Shack!
A fun & magical story from Asheville, North Carolina. My wife gave me an Owl Shack last Christmas. I put it up in February on a lovely giant white oak tree in our backyard, but it had been unoccupied since then. For Halloween, my 9-year-old son Noah and I decided (the day before) to make a costume. We had two cool-looking wood-scrap tree-branch rings that had been cut off a big tulip poplar we had to take down a few years ago. We put them together, and saw owl eyes! So we made an owl mask using the wood scraps, a plastic bin, and leaves glued on for feathers. The mask was so heavy we had to make shoulder straps out of gorilla tape so he could support it. The mask was quite a big hit at the school Halloween parade and trick-or-treating. The day after Halloween, I was thinking of where to put the mask, and I decided to put it in the covered woodpile, right under the white oak tree, so we could see it from the back door. THAT VERY EVENING our first screech own moved into the Owl Shack! My wife saw her in the doorway when she drove home after work. We haven’t named our rusty red owl yet. We call her a she because she is bigger than we imagined! But of course we don’t know for sure. Thanks for sharing your wonderful gift! We’ll email you if we get nestlings in the spring.
We have our first owl this year. I saw one of your Owl Shacks a few years ago. Quickly came home and ordered two. We live on about an acre and a half and back up to a creek. We moved one last year thinking we had it a little too close to the house/pool and perhaps too low. I have dogs too so we moved one to the back part of our property. We have this little sitting area back there. Night before last, we’re out enjoying the nice weather with the dogs. Right at dusk, which is so early now, the owls start calling. I said, it sounds like some of that is coming from the Owl Shack. Sure enough, we have our first little owl. We think we have them figured out. Enjoying our new friend!! Thanks for your great “shack.”
Went to the back of my 6 acres this afternoon up here In Battle Creek, MI to check on my Owl Shack, first time in about a month. I put it up this spring. I was shocked to see the front cover hanging down and the bottom board hanging too. I got the ladder out and took it down. The back board was shattered. I think it was a lightening strike! The owl house was up about 15 feet in a hickory tree and I used two nails. I think the owl house is repairable. I may need to get a cedar plank from the local lumber yard for the back board, but everything else is okay, just tore up, but I think I can nail it back together. I don’t think there were any owls in the house yet. I’ll have it fixed up in a couple of weeks and rehang and hopefully some owls will use it this winter. I think I will try a different tree, we have a lot of nice oaks on our property.
I got my Owl Shack last August and hung it up. It took awhile, but we finally got a resident owl this summer. He stayed around for a couple of weeks and then we didn’t see him much anymore. I’m happy to report that today we not only saw him, but he had captured and eaten a rat! We have decided to name him Archimedes, like the owl in the Disney film, The Sword in the Stone. Thanks for making a great product and making it in Texas!
We finally have an adorable screech owl that has moved into our Owl Shack. We’ve named him “Mr. B” after Mr. Bankwitz, our high school teacher and head of the science club, who inspired us with an owl watching field trip.
We wanted to share a picture of “Owlie” enjoying her Owl Shack on our front porch. She roosted in the vines nearby for many months and we gave up hope that she would notice your fine Shack. It was quite a surprise one morning to see her perched in it. She’s been coming back every morning and spending the day since late last Spring. So far, no owlets have appeared in the box, but we have seen some young owls in another part of our yard and are hopeful that some will appear in the box one of these days. Thanks for making the Shacks available. They make great gifts, too.
This is the 3rd year we have had an owl visit our Owl Shack. We had the Owl Shack mounted and ready to go for almost 4 years before they caught on. Would love for you to share my pictures. Thanks.
I was guided to your web site by a friend. I am in a master naturalist group with him. I would love to have one of your Owl Shacks and will complete an order form.
I have had an occupied Owl Shack up for around 6 years and, until now, never had an owl during the summer months. I never have seen an owl in my Owl Shack after fledging in May, until around late Oct to Nov. I am trying to figure out what is going on here. I have had the same owl in the box every day for 2 weeks. Thanks.
If you know any Rice University graduates, they should have gotten a new Rice Magazine (#12). The inside back cover has a half page picture I took of a rufous morph screech owl with your Owl Shack showing very prominently.
Not sure if you remember me. I used to work for the GO TEXAN program and bought an Owl Shack for my mom and dad. Well, I recently bought my first home this past summer and my dad surprised me with my very own Owl Shack for Christmas. We hung it up and within three weeks we had a screech owl! I love seeing the owl each morning and evening as I come and go from home. Thank you so much for such a wonderful product!
So far, we have no idea if Owlbin has found a mate and maybe will have babies this year. Sometimes Owlbin looks very small and sometimes he/she looks much bigger. Today, he/she was sitting very tall. When we first noticed the size difference, we thought he/she had found a mate to move in. We have been very concerned about excess noise in our backyard from time to time. It’s necessary for us to blow our oak leaves and, of course, that blower makes a terrible noise. It’ll also be necessary to mow soon. We’ve blown the leaves already once this season and we need to do it again, but are hesitant to do so. Thanks for your nice web site. We enjoyed it. We’ll recommend it to friends and see if they’d like to purchase one of your owl houses.
In the meantime, James has been busy on a new project, well within Al’s sights. But the owl doesn’t mind our presence at all. In fact, I stood right under him to shoot my photos. He barely blinked at me. Sometimes the chickadees and titmice mob any owls they see roosting, but no one’s bothered him so far. Lucky for him.
UPDATE—I stepped outside around noon to check on the owl box in the oaks (our first owl box is attached to an abandoned utility pole). Sure enough, an owl was perched in the opening. As I walked closer, though, it stepped back and disappeared within the box.
Thinking back to last spring, at first the owl didn’t care if we stood underneath the box. Then it’d act skittish and disappear. Two distinctly different behaviors. Which led me to surmise that we had two owls using the box. Thus, I attributed Al as the laid-back, c’mon-over guy and Agatha as the nervous, go-away gal. They’ve both found the new box!
Thanks,
“Also, this past weekend Owl #2 showed up to occupy one of the other houses. Two weeks, two owls — COOL! The Love Shacks are working.”
THE BLACK PULPIT
House was erected
he came and inspected
Decided to stay
if only for a day
On March 9th
What a sight!
We saw a screech
Just waiting to preach!
He has been there all day every day for a week now. Thanks again to you and Billy Arhos for introducing us to this fun. I am a 70 year old lifelong nature person. We were excited when Billy sent us an Owl Shack and two months later it had a very interesting owl (which I have never seen before). It sits there all day letting us enjoy it. I am ordering an Owl Shack for a friend in Gause, TX, and another one for us as a second Shack in our yard.
This is very cool. It’s something we look forward to each day. Thanks for hooking us up.
We are seriously talking about a bird house fundraiser at school. I’ll keep you posted and let you know how many we need. We might even take advance orders and that way only buy what we need. We’re thinking of doing bat boxes, owl boxes and some kind of other bird house.
Thanks again Owl Shack,
— FOLLOW UP —
Tonight we were all out in the yard around dusk and sure enough our yard owls flew in and one by one they went right to the box. It was so cool. It was also cool that we were out there at all to see it as usually we are inside at that time getting the three kids ready for bed. They wanted to eat outside and so we did and then just lingered in the yard longer than usual. Man, it was so cool. Is that a record for your owl boxes? Three days?? We are all so psyched. My husband actually made another box to put up in the back of the house.
Thanks so much!
We feel so special — And doubly so for a screech owl because they always eluded me growing up when I went birdwatching with my parents. I was never with the person that saw/heard one. They were my nemesis. We’ve heard them in our neighborhood consistently over the years and we’ve seen them in owl houses or in neighbors trees around the block but we decided to put up an owl house this year and YAY!
We decided this place was the best one for the house but it is kinda close to our front walkway so he gets nervous and pops down inside when we walk out to the car or to get the mail/paper. I hope we don’t disturb him too much and he decides to stay for a while. We just love him and his cute (sharp) little feet.
We have a screech owl that seems to be roosting in a column on our front porch. He appeared during an ice storm, can disappear into the column (it’s a square brick column) and has been there most days most of the time since then. I found your web site and see that you guys are busy building boxes. I would like to order one. He has tolerated our foot traffic on the front porch. And it’s pretty cool having him there. We had neighbors who had two owl boxes (and a red-phase Screech Owl!) but they’ve moved and the current owners must have taken down the boxes. I know one will find our box once we get it. Thanks,
Early in the morning, February 8th, my husband and I both heard [an interesting bird vocalization] from the backyard. We had been waiting and hoping for a new feathered family member and finally confirmed the occupant tonight! I looked up at the Owl Shack astonished to see this beautiful owl appear in the opening. We hung the Owl Shack in our large oak tree and realized that because it was eye level to anyone on our deck we needed to move it up about 10 more feet. Within a week of moving the Shack higher, our new friend appeared! Thank you so much for creating the Owl Shacks. We can’t wait to show our friends and neighbors!
Some friends gave me an Owl Shack as a gift. It was mounted in a tree next to my deck, about six feet from my bedroom door. Thirteen hours later, my Owl Shack had a resident! Looking out the backdoor glass, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Since that door is so near the Owl Shack, I used another door to walk out on the deck and get an even closer view. I was thrilled and quite surprised to confirm there was indeed an occupant-a gorgeous owl! Over the next several weeks, the owl was content to have tree-side visitors and was disturbed by only one thing. It must be camera shy; the presence of a camera caused her to quickly drop to the bottom of the Shack. Well, maybe next year!
[Owl Shack note: This 13-hour turnaround is clearly the record that will be very tough to beat!]
Thanks, Owl Shack.