Getting Ready

If you were watching the live feed yesterday, you may have noticed that the site went dead. I still don't know what happened, and it is still down right now. But here is some of what you missed.
Here is the owlet testing his wings (photo 1) and staring at an insect (photo 2) in the box preparing for his exit.

Finally, here is a video through the spotting scope of the owlet checking out the surroundings a few minutes before his 8:33 departure into the big, wide world.

Last Day in The Box

The third owlet fledged on Monday night. Here are some photos from the third owlet's last night in the box.
The first two show the owlet. The second two show Mrs. Owl visiting with food items. The first is a moth, and the second is perhaps a cockroach.

Owlet in the Window

The Outside World

The owlets are beginning to be able to climb up to the window and look out for very brief periods. Since midnight last night, an owlet got into the window about 3 times. They are also developing wing feathers. They spend some time flapping in the box, but mainly when they are trying to balance themselves climbing up. In the next few days, they will be flapping their wings and testing out their flight muscles. The eldest probably has fewer than 10 days left in the box, so he needs to get ready.

Getting Bigger

The owlets are getting bigger every day. Mr. and Mrs. Owl are now both hunting full time. Mrs. Owl often leaves in the afternoon, probably because the weather has been hot. 

High Drama

This was a dramatic evening, as we had a visit from Barred Owls in the yard, right around sunset. The first sign of troubled was the raucous calls of the Blue Jays. I assumed they had found Mr. Owl in a tree and were giving him some grief. Mrs. Owl looked out at the commotion in the setting sun. Her ear tufts are up, and she looks very alert (photo 1) (her pupils are small because she's looking straight into the sun.)

But the reason for the disturbance became clear as two Barred Owls (photos 2 & 3) flew over the house and landed in a tree at the bottom of the yard. That put them about 75 feet from the owl house. Screech Owls are part of a balanced meal for Barred Owls, so this was of some concern. Of course Barred Owls need to eat, too, but perhaps they could satisfy themselves with some mice and Blue Jays.

The Blue Jays followed them to the tree, harrassing and dive bombing them. I only just missed capturing a direct hit to an owl's head with my camera. It sounds dangerous, but with much smaller size and greater maneuverability, the Jays really don't have much to fear with this practice. What they do have to fear is having their nests raided at night when the owls have all the advantages of darkness and quiet wings. This is why small birds mob raptors, and the Jay and Crow family are among the fiercest. So, unknowingly, the Screech Owls had some fierce allies this evening.

Eventually, the Barred Owls were driven back to a tree near the front of the house, where a third Barred Owl joined them. After some more harrassment by the Jays, they flew further down the street, over my neighbor's property.

We have known that we have Barred Owl neighbors as we hear them with some frequency, but we haven't had them in our yard during Screech Owl nesting season until tonight. While the danger still exists, the owlets have at least passed the stage where they will be able to survive the death of either parent. Mrs. Owl seems like she is out and hunting most of tonight. Earlier, death of Mr. Owl would have meant Mrs. Owl would have had to abandon incubation to start hunting for herself. And death of Mrs. Owl earlier would have left Mr. Owl unable to meet either the incubation or the tearing up of larger prey items. Male owls just won't do anything other than give prey items to hungry mouths. If the items are too big, or the owlets are too small to reach up and take the items, that's not his problem. It's very odd, but these males are just not much for domestic duties, though they are amazing hunters. They have to hunt first for 2 during incubation for 1 month, then for up to 7 (male, female, and up to 5 owlets) for the first 10 or more days after hatch. Only when the owlets reach 10 days, does he get a partner helping in bringing in the meals.

Additional Photo

Blind Snake

Mrs. Owl left the box this morning (4/29) for a long break, from 6:00 to 6:53. There was a brief feeding during that time, which may have been either parent. Even 30 minutes after sunrise, Mr. Owl came by with a blind snake at 7:20am. Mrs. Owl sort of fell backwards after grabbing it (photo 1), which sent the owlets into a bit of an open-mouthed begging frenzy. Photo 3 shows one of the owlets with the snake (with a sibling in front of him, facing the camera).
Mrs. Owl is no longer having to incubate the owlets all the time. 10 days is normally when they are able to maintain their own body temperature, and the eldest owlet hatched 10 days ago. So, she alternates between incubating the owlets and sitting up in the doorway or on the interior upper perch for periods of up to 20 to 90 minutes.

Feeding the Owlets

Here are some very nice photos from early this morning 4/29 of mother-owlet interaction. She spent a lot of last night in the box receiving food for the owlets, and giving it to them, mostly whole.

More Photos

Here are more photos from tonight.

Eyes Open

We hope to be back to blogging the owlets' progress more frequently. This afternoon (4/28), Mrs. Owl left the box for 2 minutes around 3pm and again around 4pm. She sat in the entryway or up on the perch several times in the afternoon, including a 40 minute doorway sit from 4:20-5:00pm. We don't really know why. Most likely, it was getting too hot in there. We saw her doing some gular flapping (owl panting), in which her throat moves in and out to cool her body.
At least one of the owlets now has open eyes.
With the warm weather and the owlets' increased size, she can now leave them for longer without them getting chilled. She left several times during the evening, starting with 20 minutes at 8:21. This, and her afternoon perch sitting was the best time to get good views of the owlets down below. She returned from her long break with a gecko. She was able to feed a blind snake that Mr. Owl delivered in one piece to an owlet. Earlier she had been tearing up larger prey items. Blind snakes are about earthworm-size, so they are fairly easy to swallow. It seems that Mrs. Owl has begun limited hunting, too. Sometimes she left the box and came back with prey items. We think we can tell the difference between his visits and hers, because she will usually get down on the floor with the owlets and stay a few minutes. When he comes, he will either deliver the prey item to her if she is in the box. If she is not, he will stay up fairly high, and lean down to offer the item to the owlets. Sometimes if the prey is too big or difficult to grasp, he will leave again with the item.

More Feedings

The night started with 2 lizards and a gecko early on. There were a good number of feedings all evening so far. It still looks like only 1 hatchling so far.
I think we haven't mentioned before that a couple of weeks ago something seems to have happened to 1 of the eggs, as we saw her eating the shell. Probably got broken in the comings and goings. We have twice in the past found unhatched eggs in the box, so hatching is never a 100% guarantee.

4/18 Blind Snake

These are from 1 night ago 4/18. The hatching hasn't yet happened here. In the first photo, you can see Mr. Owl delivering a long Texas Blind Snake. That night, there were 36 feedings! This is quite a lot more than we have counted a couple of weeks back in the season.

Hatch!

We had our first hatching. It seems like it was tonight, because we didn't see anything but eggs earlier, but we can't be sure, because it could have been hiding close to the camera. You can see the fuzzy white head and body, plus a bit of wing definition in the first photo. Also, the feedings have stepped up a lot, with Mr. Owl delivering at least 10 meals between sundown and midnight. After each feeding, Mrs. Owl, bends down and tears it up to feed it to the hatchling. This is different from her usual gulping behavior, when she is only feeding herself.