By Walt Lutz -- Drawings by Walt Lutz

Purple Martin landlords catching a rare glimpse of an owl in the act of being an owl around martin housing or gourds, are amazed and intrigued by the systematic, inventive methods owls use to capture an easy meal. Remains of martins and their nestlings on the ground under the housing are sad, grim indicators of the short battle that took place just overhead the night before. Anger added to dismay is reason enough for some folks to quit the landlord business for good. It is a heartbreaking sight.

An owl is an opportunistic hunter, indeed, and they are similar to us in one respect. When you find something that works or feels good, keep it up! Add, with this bad habit of repeated raids on a martin landlord's pride and joy martin colony, tempers flare. With the martins' constant chortling, gurgling and cooing coming from a compartment or gourd all night, it must be very difficult for an owl to fly on by without investigating the source of the nocturnal singing.

One evening, I began to reflect back to the time that we found an owl beside the road with a sprained wing. The owl had been a victim of a misdirected swoop on a skunk, spotlighted by some motorists' bright headlights. The owl appeared badly injured, so we wrapped it in a towel we had handy and continued on our way home.

We placed a large cage deep in the shadows of some nearby trees for the injured bird. I began thinking of ways to sustain it with some food typical of its menu.

A neighbor's young son happened by the house after plowing one of the local fields that very evening. He wanted to see the owl, and he brought with him five or six small cotton rats in his lunch pail he had caught at lunch. I was not about to ask him any dumb questions about his lunchbox, so I just thanked him heartily for the bounty while trying to keep from splitting with laughter.

The food was polished off in the next several days. The temper of the owl also changed radically when I approached the cage. Lots of hissing and beak snapping now. While wearing a heavy leather-welding glove, I'd hold the owl out at arm's length just to give it a brief feel of freedom.

One particular response from the owl to being handled remained foremost in my memory. This response was triggered when I gently stroked the bird down its vest with the back of my other gloved hand.

As soon as I reached a point about mid-breastbone level, a set of talons whipped out, grabbing my stroking hand in a death grip. A hawk, that we later adopted until release did not exhibit the striking behavior at all.

After about a two-weeks' stay, the owl was healthy, obnoxious and ready to go. Our dog helped release the bird by accidentally knocking a cage support over, and the bird was gone. Several other bird recovery folks relate similar instances of strikes such as I experienced.

This gave rise to the thought that two deterrents should be presented a marauding Barred, or Great Horned Owl. One would be a teasing/disturbing deterrent, and the other would be merely a displacement of perching area. Several folks employ similar setups, and this is just another ripple on the large pond of thought.

The drawing shown relates to our gourd array put up this year. I'll supply lessons learned as we review the details.

Figure 1 shows the installation of a small mast from which to suspend the ¼" diameter nylon cords. The mast is held in place using compression, or radiator clamps.

Figure 2 indicates trial starting dimensions of flapper bars (if you ever see an owl raiding a gourd, the bar is aptly named). I'm showing about one Purple Martin length spacing away from the fronts of gourds to begin studying the effectiveness of the bars. To start with, I cut the bars off just at canopy height, or about two inches above hole center if you're not using canopies. The 3/8" diameter flapper bar can be fabricated from aluminum tubing, chrome-moly steel aircraft tubing (painted), aluminum rod stock, or steel all-thread rod. I tend to lean toward the medium-wall aircraft tubing due to the strength to weight characteristics. Bending these products to the radius shown is not difficult when bent around a form. I may regret not making the bars longer at the outset. Time will tell.

Figure 3 indicates the same clamping technique outlined in Figure 7. Don't waste time with the knots shown, even if you can tie them quickly.

Figure 4 will cost more skinned knuckles than you have on both of your hands unless you have a little wonder tool called a 'Wireformer". It's one fantastic tool in itself and can make you look like a show off! Stay with available hardware shown and make it easy on yourself. The spring portion of the hand-made stanchion grips the round crossbar tubing very securely; it won't rotate around the crossbar and in general, stays put. The cost in time isn't worth it for most folks though. Alternatives are; Cable TV standoff insulators (wood crossbars, or with mounting 'saddles' for the tubing shown), 7" lag screws, ¼" all-thread rod and tall screw eyes or eyebolts.

Figure 5 & Figure 6 shows start and finished method of securing the flapper bar to the crossarm with a small diameter, long machine screws and any-lock nuts. Tubes and bars should have some rounded plastic end-cap installed on the end nearest the gourd holes for obvious bird safety reasons. Tubes must be closed on both ends with silicone sealant to keep tubes from creating an annoying whistle, which can be heard on the ground easily, 50' away.

Figure 7 displays the 'tripper' ¼" nylon cords, typical of the type used for fishing as trotline or snagline header. 1/8" holes are drilled in the top of the mast, spaced 90 degrees apart around the circumference of the ½" EMT electrical conduit mast. Small "S" hooks are crimped closed after being placed through their respective mast holes. The nylon cord loops are held closed by small rings of copper tubing which are crimped securely over the cord ends. Have a helper hold the cord end and S-hook between thumb and index finger to set the initial cord before final ring crimping. As a starting point, a cord deflection of about ½" in the middle of the outer cord span (between stanchions nearest the gourd) before the stanchions start to deflect should be about right.

An alternative to the nylon cord would be drop ceiling grid/lighting support wire (#14 galvanized steel, 10' long).

Screech Owls should be deterred by adding a second tripper about 3" up from the crossarm on the same existing stanchions. Another improvement would be to add additional flapper bars that would splay outward at about a 45-degree angle. Spacing dimensions mentioned earlier would apply. This style of owl deterrent (with a minimum of modification) is best used on a rope elevated gourd rack, although my tilt-pole accommodates the change well.

We use shower curtain hooks for gourd hangers. They're neat and strong, but they allow the gourds to swing too much in the air - even to the extent of foiling starlings (squarlings!). Revisions must be made in that area soon. By frustrating the owls when landing, it's hoped that they'll decide that a raid isn't worth the trouble of high-stepping over a 'trip' cords. Hopefully deterring an owl attack once or twice should be enough to bring peaceful nights back to your martin colony, and you, once again.

James W. 'Walt' Lutz
RR-1 Box 101
Cashion OK
wlutz@netcomsol.com

Walt Lutz is a team computer network designer with the Oklahoma City branch of NetCom Solutions International Incorporated, also serving in the CAD drawing area.

Karl Pesson rates the level of difficulty for the Owl Tripper at two stars.

Editor's notes: Both Walt and this editor recommend to those who find injured wildlife like the owl in this article, that they should not attempt to rehabilitate these birds themselves. Instead, they should find licensed wildlife rehabilitators or a wildlife refuge center nearest them.

It is in the best interest and safety of both the bird and the person who finds the bird to seek professional help in such matters.

This editor would also like to commend Walt Lutz for his ethical attitude and understanding in allowing both bird species, though prey and predator, to cohabitate freely together and not take drastic mesures to endanger the owl.