Giving a Hoot
Texas teens spend summer vacation building owl houses in yards
Brady Lauer (left) and Grayton Eustace (right) made a summer business out of this helpful woodworking craft.
Students can find many different ways to spend the summer, but a pair of Central Texas high school seniors spent their summer helping owls.
Since May, they’ve been building owl boxes.
“We're creating a habitat for the owls because owls like to burrow into dead trees, and basically what an owl box is doing is recreating that cavity,” said 18-year-old Grayton Eustace.
Eustace and Brady Lauer both love animals. Owls have a special place in Lauer's heart.
“I had an owl box in my backyard since, really, when I was born,” Lauer said. “We heard them hoot every morning, and it was just a great experience growing up.”
What started as a school project building five owl boxes for his school in sixth grade has now turned into a summer business for Lauer.
Eustace says he wanted in on the fun as his classmate.
“It’s hands-on work, and I get to help animals and create habitats for animals that are losing their habitats,” he explained.
While owl populations aren't endangered in Texas, Executive Director of Austin Wildlife Rescue Jules Maron said with the growing development in Austin, dead trees that owls often nest in can become a target.
“If you're developing an area, those are sometimes one of the first things to go,” Maron said.
Maron said they mainly take in injured or orphaned wildlife, and they've already gotten 127 owls this year. She said the number of owls turned into their facility increases by 20% each year.
Eustace and Lauer wanted to help.
“The more land you take away from them, the more they get condensed, the more they fight, the more they just diminish the overall population,” Lauer said. “Having the owl box benefits them.”
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