Last 2 fledged!

The two remaining owlets fledged this evening. The first one, in the first photo, fledged very early, around 6:20pm, when it was still quite light outside. Julia was watching the videocamera from inside, and saw lots of shenanigans going on inside the box. The owlet seemed to be playing games, and then all of a sudden was gone. She thinks he may not have intended to go so early. It was the youngest of the brood, as you can see by the extensive downy fuzz in the first photo.
It landed quite low, about 4 feet above the ground in a shrub. It didn't really move for the first hour, and we heard some bill clapping and vocalizations from the parents. They may have been telling it to stay put. There were active blue jays, cardinals, titmice, and squirrels, who from time to time fussed at it. We had to chase a neighborhood cat out of the yard, which was only about 15 feet from the owlet. We're not sure whether it had seen the owlet, but it definitely was a threat. As it got closer to dusk, the owlet made its way up the branches to about 20 feet in height, where we lost track of it in the dense leaves. The parents were both nearby, and may have been encouraging it to go a certain direction.
Meanwhile, inside the box, to our puzzlement, the other owlet slept on the internal railing. In the past the other owlets have been very curious about fledged brethren, watching them from the entrance as soon as they left. But this one had no interest in what was happening to its little baby brother/sister.
At dusk several food deliveries arrived, including 3 Texas Blind Snakes within five minutes. The owlet stayed on the railing, and made the parent reach way in to deliver these to it. Around 8:30, the owlet did start hanging out in the doorway, and at times leaned way out. We were sure it would fledge during some of these stretches, but it always pulled back in. It even took a little nap.
Then, to our surprise, around 10:00pm, it went back to the entrance, leaned out a few times, and then vanished. We did not expect a fledging during such darkness, as all prior fledgings had been near dawn or dusk. We rushed out, and turned on the porch light in order to find the fledgling, and make sure it had had a safe landing. We soon found it in a tree limb 20 feet out from the box, and at the same altitude. It must have made a level 20-foot flight, which is quite amazing for it's first foray. We snapped a few photos, like the one on the left, and then turned out the light to leave it to climb in peace. We were able to watch its little silhouette climbing the branch towards the crown of the tree. We saw a vigilant parent nearby. At some point, it squawked and buzzed us, and we knew it was time to head inside. So ends our owlcam adventure for 2008.
The owlets are only beginning their journey. They will spend the next few days mostly walking in the branches, and are commonly called "branchers." They will have a long summer perfecting their flight and learning to hunt from their parents. Then, as fall and winter approach, they will be forced from the territory to start families of their own.
We'll continue to look for them in the trees in the next few days. We'll also bring down the box soon to examine the contents, and will post photos of that. So stay tuned...

Two Fledged!

Two of the owlets fledged overnight. One fledged around 8pm in the evening, and the other around 6:20am this morning. Although we missed the actual fledging event, we found the owlet sitting on a fence post shortly after he went. By a series of short flights and hops, he made his way to the compost pile, back to the nest tree, to a telephone wire, and back to the tree.
Last night was quite rainy, and when he first fledged, he ended up on a slick fence board lying at an angle. He had to scramble his way up that board to be able to perch on the top. You can see that in the first photo. From there, he took a short flight and ended up on the compost pile. We and the parents were all watching this with great interest. The second photo shows a vigilant parent.


We lost track of him for a few minutes in the compost pile, but eventually, he climbed to the top of the wooden frame. From there, he had to take a big leap of faith and flew toward the nest tree, grabbing onto the lowest twig of the lowest limb of a neighboring tree, hanging upside down. He recovered himself, and worked his way up that shrub, until he got to the rope that anchors the box in the tree. He climbed that rope to the nest tree, and then walked up the trunk, using his wings for lift. Once he reached the level of the telephone wire, he worked his way along it, before discovering that it lead nowhere useful. He worked his way back to the tree, and we lost track of him in the dark.Meanwhile, inside the box, as soon as the first owlet fledged the other owlets, who had been preening, wheeled their heads around to look at the empty hole. One of them instantly jumped to the entrance to look around. All 3 took turns watching. One of them came very far out of the box, and we were sure he was going to fledge, too. At one point, we could see all 4 front toes over the edge of the box. The owlet made some squawking sounds. The parents may have been quietly vocalizing, too. Eventually, the second owlet backed into the box, and didn't fledge.
Feedings came all night, and at about 6:20 in the morning, the second owlet fledged, but we weren't around to see it. So, now we have 2 in and 2 out.
W found one of the owlets in a tree this morning, but couldn't find the other. We only found one of the parents (fourth photo) keeping a cryptic vigilance on the box. As neither parent was near the owlet we assumed that it must be guarding the other fledgling. Normally, the fledged owlets are guarded very closely. Perhaps the second owlet flew off in a totally different direction and the other parent had to follow it.

Waiting for Dinner

Here is one of the owlets in the window waiting for dark and food deliveries to start. We watched from the porch. The owlet spent a lot of time looking at us, but once we stopped moving, it looked all around, and eventually rested its head on the box. It likes to watch planes go overhead. Big noisy birds. It will also watch any bird that flies by at dusk.

Eventually, the food deliveries started, and I got lucky to catch this photo just after delivery of a bloodied gecko. We've seen geckos swallowed many times in the box, but never from the outside. This happened when it was too dark to see details, but I caught it with the camera on a long exposure.

In the box this evening, there was lots of activity. The owlets are practicing flying inside the box. They fly up to the ceiling, to the hole, to the perch. Obviously there isn't much room, but they are stretching their wings a lot and using them for these hop-flights inside the box. Fledging should happen very soon.

In the Door

One of the babies showed us a face for the first time in the doorway, this evening. If he sits in the doorway once feeding begins tonight, he will get all the food the parents bring, until he steps down. If this happens, hopefully he will get full soon, and go down to have a snooze, so his siblings can eat, too. Fledging will likely happen this week sometime, so stay tuned.

Inside the box, the owlets have managed to smudge the plexiglass, so the view is a bit hazy, but you can still get a good idea of what is going on. The owlets are using the interior railing a lot more, and clambering around inside, strengthening their muscles. At one point one of them even climbed the slats all the way to the ceiling and hung there for a minute.