Hometown, Alaska Alaska Public Media

Archimedes, an education animal cared for by biologist Ginamaria Smith, was live on Zoom Jan. 31, 2021, as the featured guests of the Eagle River Nature Center’s program “Alaska’s Superb Owls.”One dark December morning, as I headed out with my dog for some exercise, I met a young man carrying an aluminum ladder. Since it was nearly Christmas, I asked if he was decorating a random tree to surprise and delight winter hikers.Not quite — he had just cleaned out an owl box of its annual detritus in preparation for a potential new dweller.It was Andrew Fisher, an owl enthusiast supporting a project at the Eagle River Nature Center, where he and other volunteers have established more than 20 owl boxes. They have a few years of research under their belts, and on this week’s segment, he told us more about how it’s going.Colin Tyler, professional wildlife photographer and assistant manager at the Eagle River Nature Center also joined to share some of his owl images with us on this page.Parent and juvenile Great Horned