Barn Owls sighting in backyard!

I walked outside  tonight after hearing the "grow to love it sound" of our "eat the rats"  friends- the screeches of the  Barn owls. 15 feet into our backyard, perched in a  short bushy pine tree was the beautiful white disc face - staring at me and doing that funny head dance they do while feeling curiously threatened. Sky dark indigo, glowing owl face within a jump of me- so awesome. It was probably the male (smaller and whiter than the female- and less busy tending the screaming hungry babies). He  looked at me for nearly 15 minutes before growing bored and going hunting...When we moved into our house, they were nesting directly across the street in neighbors  huge palm tree. My first painting party before we moved in  involved 6 mommies  from my hospital nursing group, 2 gallons of Ben Moore no VOC robins egg blue, an MP3 player,  3 Extreme pizzas and lots of good wine- albeit in plastic cups. It was a good time and we DID get the room painted. Shortly after the kid room was painted and the party had disbanded, I pulled up a rickety left behind painting chair from the sellers, placed it out in the atrium and had some more wine to toast our new home. It was dark with no lighting in atrium, past midnight, and I was not driving anytime soon. I leaned back , looked into the stars above and saw a flash of silent white bird belly float overhead, then the screeches and strange racket began. They screeched for nearly 2 hours. I love them. The constant night sounds give me a  feeling of inclusion and balance-  the natural world is here even with the cars and phones  and hectic human activities.

http://www.hungryowl.org/:

great local folks dedicated to helping owls, building nesting boxes, live web cams etc...  check out their site!

  I hadn't heard them for some  6 months now and had grown worried that a  neighbor had ignorantly set out rodenticides or round-up.   ( It is illegal to disturb their nests and using poisons near their nesting areas is just stupid).   I am so excited to know that they are back. The local rodents are not. now... should I make an owl box?