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...