Day 10 and counting

Well, I'm on day 10 and counting for Katie and William to find their owl box.  No sightings yet.  We had an ice storm last week on Wednesday night and it continued into Thursday.  The picture tells the story of how things looked here in Central Kentucky, so even if the owls had sighted the box they would have had no way to check out the interior.  Things are finally melting today and so maybe the door to the box won't be blocked by icicles by this afternoon, the sun is actually shinning although temperatures still remain in the high 20's.  The weather men are actually predicting a white Christmas for us which is fairly unusual. 

I've sent all my owl box information to the Salato Wildlife Refuge which is located here in Frankfort where I live.  I've been in contact with the Avian Biologist, Kathrine who has been very helpful. Although our state does not have the funds to send her out to my house, she has been very helpful through e-mail and phone conversations.  She is so pleased to have another nesting site in Kentucky and was very excited about the camera.  Her e-mail however did say:   

"Wow!  What a beautiful box!  So I guess you will know the minute something starts using it.  Don’t be surprised if you see some screech owls or even a hawk roost in there while you await your barn owls!

Thanks for your efforts.  Would be great to have barn owls in Franklin Co.  Let me know if you see any activity.  A lot of our owls are banded!  Something else to watch for.  :^)"

    Come to find out there are only 23 nesting pair of barn owls in Kentucky that she knows about.  She keeps track of them and has actually banded the babies of the nesting pair.  Here in Central Kentucky we used to produce large tobacco crops.  With that came many barns and so nesting areas, but over the years tobacco has not been the crop it used to be in Kentucky and those old barns have been left in disrepair giving our little owls less options for nesting.  Clearly Katherine is keeping her fingers crossed for the box as much as we are.

I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday season, after all once this season is over then you know the days are getting longer and spring is on the way!