No Owls This Year

For those following on the blog only, we did not have any visits after the few early visits in March. For whatever reason, the owls decided not to nest with us this year.

Life Returns

 Life returned to the box today. Well, actually we have been chasing squirrels out of the box for several weeks, hoping for owls to return. This morning, at 2:50am, an owl visited the box for 7 minutes. Then, from 7:30am to about 8:00pm a (presumably) female owl occupied the box all day. She spent most of the day at the top of the box, observing the window or sleeping in the window.
A couple of times, a starling entered the box, and sat on the floor looking up at her. She didn't seem to take any steps to chase or harm the starling. Perhaps the starling's long pointy beak was too dangerous for her to drive out the intruder. Starlings can be very aggressive and persistent. I have watched them drive out woodpeckers from holes they had spent days making. Hopefully they won't get in the way of Mrs. Owl's nesting. She didn't seem too bothered in any case.
After she left in the evening, I went up to clean off a smear on the plastic that the squirrels had left. I found a colony of Acrobat Ants in the camera compartment. Like many ants, they seem attracted to electricity. I cleaned them out (wearing by puure coincidence a shirt with an ant on it that says "small entrepeneur"). Hopefully a light dusting of diatomaceous earth in the camera compartment (completely isolated from the nesting chamber) will discourage the ants.

We actually had had one previous very short visit on February 21st, but probably nothing else in between, though we were using the camera intermittently to save power on the monitoring computer.
 Welcome to the 2012 season. Hopefully this will be their 5th successful season in a row.

Opening the Nest Box

We finally got around to taking down the owl house and opened the nest box. We confirmed that a Blue Jay and a Cedar Waxwing were among the prey this season. Picking through the nest contents revealed some interesting items: a Blue Jay beak , some insect legs, a little piece of owl eggshell (the rest were probably eaten by the mother). The Blue Jay bill is interesting, because we usually don't see that. Birds usually arrive headless when brought by a parent. So, this season, as usual, the number of birds as prey is fairly small (two), with most of the food having been reptiles and insects.
See you next February/March for the next season.

Last Owlet Photos

Here are some photos of the second owlet on his last night in the box. He spent some time sitting in the entrance way, examining the world and relaxing. He left around 9pm, about an hour later in the day than his sibling had left 2 days prior.
The last photo is of the first owlet, the day he fledged.
The first owlet, on Thursday, May 19th, fledged just before sunset, about 8:15pm. He flew towards an oak tree at the back of the property. He didn't make it, landing in some tall ragweed stems that we hadn't trimmed since last year. This was good for him, as it gave him a staging ground to regroup for a second attempt at the tree. Without the stems, he might have ended up on the ground. At this stage, owlets don't have the muscle strength to do level flight or gain altitude. It is basically powered descent. But he made it to the lower oak limbs, and then climbed inside the branches to near the top of the tree before we lost sight of him.
The second owlet fledged 2 days later, on May 21st. We had fully expected him to go the next day, as he was 1 day younger, and we have often had fledging on successive nights, even for owlets 2 days apart in age. However, we had a thunderstorm just around sunset, which probably convinced him to stay inside one more night. When he eventually did fledge, he waited until 9pm, when it was quite dusky out. He headed for the same oak tree, but ended up in some tall bushes nearby. He began to climb those, flapping his wings for assistance, before we lost sight of him.
We haven't seen either one since, though we haven't had time to search much. They usually go deep into the woods within a couple of days, and we do not see them again. We do usually hear the family from time to time during the summer.
It has been an exciting season, with a bit of tragedy, but mostly success. Thank you for sharing it with us. Check back in February of 2012, when we'll turn the camera on again, and await our guests once more.

Second Owlet Fledged

The second owlet fledged today, 31 days after hatching, and made it safely to the trees to join his (or her) sibling. Photos to follow.

First Fledging

The first owlet fledged Thursday night, 5/19, so there is only 1 left. The 2nd will likely fledge tonight, 5/21.

We have video of the first fledging, which we'll post, as soon as we finish with our other busy May event today, the O. Henry Punoff World Championships.

You can watch the O. Henry Punoff Live Today http://punpunpun.com/24918.html 11am to 5pm Central Time.

Happy owlwatching.

In the Doorway

Here is a video from last night of an owlet resting in the doorway. It's handheld through the scope, so it's a little wobbly.

Owlet in the Doorway

A few photos from late evening yesterday, as the owlet looked out of the doorway. Fledging (leaving the box) will probably happen sometime this week, perhaps as soon as Tuesday. They usually do a lot of looking out of the doorway for a couple of days before venturing out there.

Only the Good Die Young

We are sad to report that one of the owlets died yesterday, likely due to lack of food and stress from the cold spell that blew in Sunday night and lingered during the last few nights. We went back and watched the recordings starting Saturday night. All 3 owlets appeared very active Saturday, and at least 8 geckos were brought after midnight, among other insect snacks. The eldest owlets seemed to get all but 1 of these geckos, but the young owlet seemed active and competitive for the food. Sunday during the day, he appeared a bit more listless than his 2 siblings, spending a lot of time lying down, as his older siblings did more walking around. The front began to blow in about 3pm Sunday, from when temperatures dropped from the 90s to the 60s within 2 hours. That night, temperatures dropped into the 50s. Mrs. Owl, who had in recent days been spending time in the entrance, or even out of the box, came back, and spent alternating periods down with the nestlings and in the entrance. The nestlings became inactive, and huddled in a group up against the plastic divider, where the camera and illuminators probably put out a bit of warmth.
Mrs. Owl left for over an hour from 7:29 to 8:38pm Sunday. Mrs. Owl hunted until just before 10pm, when she returned, and then stayed in the box, incubating the owlets. After 2 feedings before 10pm, no food arrived for the next 6 hours. During this time, as Mrs. Owl brooded the owlets, they wriggled a lot under her, probably competing for access to her warm naked brood patch on her chest and belly. This adaptation on female nesting birds, in which they lose feathers and grow extra blood vessels in their chests, helps them transfer warmth to eggs and nestlings.
It is unclear why Mr. Owl was unable to bring food for this long stretch. It is possible that the low temperatures had stilled the insect and reptile prey and made them hard to find. Even when food came, it was the much taller and more active larger siblings that claimed it. In all, there were only about 6 feedings that night, only 1 of which appeared to be a gecko, the rest insects.
But even so, by dawn Monday at 7am, after a whole night without food, the youngest owlet was still able to be active and beg for food. But he had to face a whole day in which the temperature never got out of the 50's. The day passed with Mrs. Owl and the owlets huddled against the plastic divider in the box, the owlets hidden under her body. By the time she left for 15 minutes at 8:19pm and returned with food, the third owlet appeared not to raise his head with as much vigor as his siblings. The 4 feedings that came in went to the larger siblings. Starting at 9:21, Mrs. Owl, who had been hunting, returned and began incubating the owlets again. Again, no food arrived for most of the night, from 9:19pm onwards for 9 hours. Mrs. Owl left at 4:43 Tuesday morning for 95 minutes. Perhaps she was trying to hunt and remedy the lack of food. This was a very cold time for the owlets to be left alone, as temperatures had dipped into the upper 40s by then. She returned successful at 6:18am with a large bird, perhaps a Blue Jay. It was probably already too late for the smallest owlet, who didn't seem to raise his head when the food arrived. The others clamored vigorously. Mrs. Owl proceeded to tear it up and feed it to them, but the youngest appeared to be off at the side away from where the feeding was happening. A 2-3 inch fish was brought about 6:47am, and Mrs. Owl received it and fed it to the older owlets. The youngest appeared at this stage to just be lying down, probably still alive, but quite weak. Mrs. Owl seemed to make no attempt to get him food. In the past, we have seen female parents specifically avoid the mouths of the recently fed owlets to get food shared around to all mouths. But perhaps she knew that the youngest was already doomed.
Mrs. Owl continued feeding the owlets from the prey bird on and off during the morning. The youngest owlet had disappeared from the camera's view, and was probably dead by this time. Mr. Owl brought an unusual daytime feeding of an anole lizard at 12:13 pm. The day warmed enough that Mrs. Owl stopped incubating, perched above on the rail, and even leaving the box for a little while.
By about 7pm Tuesday, it appeared that the two older siblings began to eat their younger nestmate. It has been documented that although Eastern Screech Owls will not kill a sibling, after it has been dead a while, it loses its status as family, and they consider it food.
Thus, life for the owls goes in, in the face of an uncertain food supply. It appears that feedings are increasing as the temperatures return back to more normal springtime levels. Hopefully it will be good news from now on.

Photos: 1st: All 3 owlets on Saturday, with the youngest in the middle.
2nd: A gecko brought for food.
3rd: An insect
4th: The large bird prey (possibly a Blue Jay judging by the dark and white tail feathers)
5th: The fish prey
6th: Huddling under mama's brood patch
7th: Owlet staring at the camera
8th: Owlet stretching its wings

Feeding Time Lapse Video

Here is a project I started working on a few weeks ago. This video is a time lapse showing 16 feedings from the night of March 28-29. Neither Youtube nor anyone else on the Internet can handle portrait-oriented video, so unfortunately it is in a horizontal format and looks a bit offset. One day I'll learn about video programming. Enjoy it.

Three Hungry Mouths

We haven't yet blogged about the third hatch, which happened last Friday, April 22nd. Since then, there has been lots of activity. Tonight was the first night we noticed open eyes on the eldest owlet. They are not fully open, but the little owlet can definitely open her (or his) eyes. Most of the food brought in is geckos or lizards, with an occasional insect. Despite the drought, there seem to be enough insects to supply the reptile population, which in turn feeds the owls.
The weather has been quite warm, both by day and night. Despite the owlets being too young to maintain their own body temperature, Mrs. Owl has not had to incubate them much, due to the warm night-time temperatures. She thus has been spending increasing amounts of time either hunting or sitting in the doorway. During the day, she is often up on the perch or in the doorway, and even sometimes out of the box, as she was Sunday afternoon for over an hour.

Second Hatch

The second egg hatched sometime today. We haven't had time to figure out exactly when, but here is a dramatic family portrait. Mr. Owl sort of lost his balance and fell into the box while delivering a lizard. In the foreground is Mrs. Owl, 2 fuzzy owlets, and the remaining egg.

First Hatch!

Tonight, between 6:06 and 6:10pm, the first egg hatched! This is on the early side of the possible hatching dates at 28 days. Normal range is (28.5 to 32 days, 1 sigma). In the first photo, you can see the eggs at 6:05pm, with what is likely a small hole in the egg closest to the camera, which is the one that hatched. The second photo is at 6:11pm, just after hatching. You can see a shiny baby just to the left of Mrs. Owl's leg, and a partial eggshell. The third and fourth photos show a 1/2 eggshell, an unhatched egg, and the owlet. In the fifth photo, Mrs. Owl has picked up the eggshell and begun to eat it. She presumably does this to recover the calcium in the shell. In the sixth photo, you can see that the shell is completely gone. You only can see the two remaining eggs and the hatchling. In the 7th photo, about 2 hours after hatching, the owlet has dried out and has now become fuzzy.
Mr. Owl then began bringing food, consisting of (so far) a gecko, a couple of insects, and a Texas Blind Snake. In the last photo, Mr. Owl is bringing a blind snake while Mrs. Owl is still working on tearing up the gecko for the owlet. He came with the snake, stared down for a little while, and then started to leave. Mrs. Owl dropped the gecko, and went up to the entrance to take it from him.
As great as male owls are at hunting for the entire family during incubation, they are not very useful when it comes to domestic duties. They bring food, and if nobody takes it, they usually turn around and leave with it. We have observed this later in the nesting cycle, when the female is out hunting. The male will arrive with food, and if the owlets are too small to take the prey, the male will just give up and leave again. Often, the female will arrive soon after with the same item that she has presumably taken from the male outside the box.