OWL BOX: Natural pest management. Age 55

When we first moved out to the country, there were so many gophers on the property we couldn't take a step without stepping on a gopher mound.

I tried flooding them out, but their underground network was so extensive that water would flow from the hose for hours before it would finally come up from another hole just yards away. The next morning, I'd find the gophers had filled two holes with fresh dirt.

I placed traps inside the gopher holes. No luck. The gophers had sense enough to find another way out. I poured gasoline down the holes and lit it. The goal wasn't to burn the gophers, but to smother them. The fire was supposed to consume the oxygen. It didn't work. Poison was not a good option either because we have dogs and cats. I worried about them eating a poisoned gopher. I was just about to give up when my nephew and his wife suggested a solution.

Miles and Nina are naturalists. Both work outdoors and have a great understanding of how to manage nature without using poisons or disrupting the natural order of things. They suggested I get an owl box and referred me to a group of school kids that sold them as a fund raiser. I happily paid the $75. I was surprised to find that it had a six-inch hole for the owls to access, but no perch for them to stand on. Miles explained that they don't need a perch, and in fact, the perch would pose a danger to baby owls. Predatory hawks use the perch to access the owl box and eat the owlets, but the hawks are not agile enough to access the box without a perch.

As instructed, I placed the box at the top of a ten-foot pole to make a suitable owl home. Owls are attracted to the dark hole on the side of the box, and as expected, the box was occupied the first season it was installed. The adult owls were busy hunting gophers right away. They had voracious appetites and plenty of food to support their offspring. Soon, the babies were old enough to work their way out of the hole and to the roof of the box and watch their parents hunt for food. In the early evenings, I could see the silhouettes of usually two, but up to four baby owls standing on top of the box screeching for their parents to bring them food. The noise was incessant for four or five hours every night until they were old enough to hunt on their own.

The noise intensified whenever mom or dad brought them a gopher to eat. That is when the party really got going as they frantically ripped apart their meal. They were so noisy we had to close our windows at night so we could get some sleep. The next time I put an owl box up, it'll be far enough away so the noise won't bother us.

The owl box was a great investment and the most natural solution to handle the gopher problem. Only the smartest gophers remain, and since there aren't very many smart gophers, their presence is far more manageable.

~ Andrew Laufer