Greensboro Birds

In my last post, I asked why owls seems to break so many branches and bark pieces, creating piles of the stuff beneath their roosts. I also posited the question on Cornell’s Project FeederWatch listserv. Here, a few readers’ theories:

Josh: My broken branch theory: they break the branches when launching into flight. Or they’re destroying trees in a display of anti-hippie rage.

S. seems to agree with Josh (on the first part, at least): Owls like to have a clear runway into and out of  their roosting area. Best guess is that the material you see is just being broken away to give them a comfortably wide area to fly into. I had a fir tree that suddenly developed a “bald” spot, which we thought was caused by an owl using it to roost.

B.’s going with nesting: I would guess that somewhwere in that tree is a hole in which is a female owl and, by now, maybe babies. Owls nest very early. The male will roost outside as a guard during the day. The debris is probably the trash from an old nest that the owls threw out. It’s possible that there isn’t a nest, but it sure sounds like Dad is standing watch for Mom and the kids. In another month, you may see some youngsters.

We’ll be tallying votes all week. Vote early and often.