Augusta Bird Club Begins New American Barn Owl Nest Box Program (2026).  In early 2026, the Conservation Committee began discussing the idea of starting a new American Barn Owl Nest Box Program with the goal of helping to increase the breeding population of this important bird species here in our area. The strategy was simple:  Decide on a couple proven nest box designs, identify potential sites that have appropriate habitat, contact interested landowners that would permit us to install a box or two, buy the boxes, poles and other materials and start installing them. Our first round of box deployment (17 boxes) has already begun. We have installed two in existing barns and one on a free-standing pole, in three separate locations. All remaining sites will be pole-mounted nest boxes. The program will include monitoring the boxes, as well as an education and outreach component.

HOW CAN YOU HELP ?
There are several ways that club members (and the public) can help our efforts on this conservation project:
1) NEW SITES.  We are always looking for potential new nest box sites (that have appropriate habitat) throughout the county, especially if there may have been nesting barn owls in that location in the past. If you know of any sites (farms) that we should consider, please let us know! We’d love to visit them and talk to the owners.
2) LABOR.  We’re always looking for a few people to help install the pole-mounted nest boxes. It’s not too difficult, just a bit cumbersome where we need a few people.
3) FUNDING.  We are looking for new funding sources, including donations, that will allow us to continue to purchase more nest boxes and poles, and expand our program. Each completed pole-mounted nest box costs about $350 to install (nest box and all materials). You can contact anyone from of our barn owl next box team (see below) if you can assist us.

For more information, please email any of our Barn Owl Nest Box team members:
• Lynne Parks, Conservation Committee Co-chair (v.lynneparks@gmail.com)
• Ann Cline, Conservation Committee Co-chair (anncline1443@yahoo.com)
• Antonio Martinez (middleriverstudio@gmail.com)
• Rich Wood (beagleboy831@comcast.net)