Open Eyes

The update on the bee saga is that right eyelid of the youngest owlet seems to be reducing its swelling. In the 2nd and 3rd photos, you can see the youngest owlet, which spent most of the evening on the rear railing, has its eyes open. Although it still has its left eye closed a lot of the time, the eye can open, and appears to have a nice pupil and iris. We are still monitoring it to see whether a veterinary opthalmologist needs to be consulted, but if things continue to improve in the next day, we think we're out of the woods.
The other 2 owlets continue to seem normal, although the oldest one still seems to have a swollen cere. We're not worried about it, as the nostrils seem wide open. None of the owlets are displaying any kind of abnormal behavior, being quite active, self-preening, and climbing around on the railings.
Soon, we expect wing-flapping and exercising to begin in earnest, as the owlets will begin to learn how to use their wings in anticipation of their first big flight to the tree branches within a week or so.

Cleanings

Regular watchers of our camera will have noticed the fog that developed over the camera window yesterday. When we cleaned the box during the bee incident, we must have cleaned it inadequately. Today, I went up to clean it. I took the opportunity to check on the owlets, and only one of them now has an eye swollen shut. So, they're on the mend.


I also did a bit of research on the No Pest Strips that killed the bees. They contain a nerve agent, called dichlorvos, that the EPA has considered banning. It is a nerve agent developed around WWII, and has caused birth defects in rodent studies. It can cause lung, eye, and muscle problems, and death. The idea behind it's "safety" is that in low doses, it is much more toxic to insects than to people.

According to OSHA:
1. Effects on Animals: Dichlorvos is an anticholinesterase agent and may cause excessive salivation, eye tearing, sweating, constricted pupils, respiratory distress, anorexia, vomiting, diarrhea, weakness, twitching, paralysis, a slow and irregular heartbeat, convulsions, coma, and death [Hathaway et al. 1991]. Dichlorvos also has reproductive effects and causes malformed offspring in rodents. The acute toxicity of dichlorvos for laboratory animals is significantly high; the dermal LD(50) for rabbits is 107 mg/kg and 80 mg/kg in rats; and the acute oral LD(50) in rats is 25 mg/kg [NIOSH 1995; ACGIH 1991; Sax and Lewis 1989]....
2. Effects on Humans: Dichlorvos is an organophosphorus pesticide and is therefore a cholinesterase inhibitor. Overexposure to this substance causes symptoms that vary by route of exposure. Inhalation causes ocular and respiratory symptoms. Ingestion causes gastrointestinal effects, while skin absorption causes localized sweating and muscle twitching in the area where entry occurred. If exposure is severe, muscle weakness, twitching, fasciculation, and paralysis may occur. Paralysis of the respiratory muscles may cause death. Cardiac irregularities, including complete heart block, may also occur [Hathaway et al. 1991]. Dichlorvos is easily absorbed through the skin, gastrointestinal tract, and lungs because of its high volatility [Parmeggiani 1983].

And according to the New Zealand Environmental Risk Management Authority:

Dichlorvos is also very ecotoxic to aquatic organisms, birds and honeybees.

We decided that as small and fast-growing as the owlets are, it could definitely cause them some problems, so I took down one of the strips in the morning. With no additional bees by 2pm, we knocked down the other strip, and have left them toxic-free.

Bees!!

It started a normal day, like any other in owland. Mrs. Owl spent over an hour in the box in the morning preening the owlets. One of the owlets even made an attempt to get to that interesting doorway where all the comings and goings are. What must that world be like out there?
Well, starting at 1:36, the world began to come to them. For 4 hours bees came in and out, investigating the box, with perhaps 25 or so present at any one time.
Then, suddenly, at 5:40pm, they began to swarm in by the hundreds, exploring the walls, the floor, and eventually clustering on the ceiling. The owlets seemed rather disturbed by all this, but eventually things settled down.
We became very concerned what would happen during the night with all the comings and goings of feeding. We called around to a wildlife rehabber, various beekeepers, and Fred Gehlbach (author of “The Eastern Screech Owl,” the definitive book). The general advice was to get a beekeeper to remove the bees, but the beekeeper we talked to had tried twice already this season with smoke, vacuum, and dust, and neither set of owlets had survived the ordeal. We were also told that there were cases of bees and owls peacefully coexisting, but this didn't seem likely, given the quantity of bees on the ceiling and all the comings and goings related to feeding. So, we took the advice to hang Hot Shot No Pest Strips, which smell foul, have a poison that doesn't harm birds, and was supposed to drive the bees away. We thought this would gradually drive the bees off, as they flew out and chose not to fly back in.
Unfortunately, what began to happen, though, was that the bees began to sicken, and fall to the floor, interacting with the owlets. The owlets began to flick their wings and twitch as if being stung or trying to get the bees off themselves. We called around quickly again, and made the emergency decision to bring the box down and remove the owlets, as the floor was now crawling with bees.
It is always best for baby birds to be raised by their parents if at all possible. So our idea was to clean the bees out of the box, get the owlets a medical checkup, and then return them the same night, or as soon as possible, to the care of their parents.
We gently placed the owlets in a cardboard box filled with wood shavings, and went to our friend Sallie, a raptor rehabilitator. She gave them a thorough checkup. Two of them had been stung on the eyelids, and the eyes were thus swollen shut. The other had been stung on the cere (the flesh that partly covers the bill and nostrils). But they seemed all right, if a bit shell shocked. They spent the whole time out of their nestbox very huddled down, hoping not to be noticed, and seeming very lethargic. But Sallie said they're just terrified, and exhibiting normal defensive behavior.
She then fed them some freshly carved mice to make up for their missing the best feeding part of the evening. She mostly had to open their bills and place it in their mouths directly, because they were so unwilling to move. They did swallow it on their own. She fed them in a box with an older owlet under her care, so he could reassure them with his confident eating behavior.
It is extremely important for owlets to eat whole animal food, bones and all. They need the calcium for their bones to develop properly. Many an owlet hand-raised by non-experts has ended up crippled for life by being fed hamburger or other inappropriate owl foods.
Upon returning home, we cleaned the box, refilled it with wood shavings (never sawdust!), put the owlets back in, and hoisted it back up the tree. Within 20 minutes, the parents began coming with food again. The owlets began acting normal, preening, reaching to take food, and probably happy that the nightmare was over, and the maid service had cleaned the box, to boot. You may notice the clearer view that the camera has.
More photos at Picasa.

Mother

We found Mrs. Owl outside the box this evening. She doesn't spend much time in the box any more, as it is so hot.

We're sorry we haven't had much time to blog and post photos from the box this year. Things have gotten busy, but below is a little selection. The ants are now a constant stream, but they don't seem to be causing any hardship with whatever food scraps they must be eating.

A Busy Evening

This has been a busy evening in a number of ways. After her evening break, Mrs. Owl returned with a gecko (photo 1). She began to feed it to the owlets. Merely 2 minutes into this process, Mr. Owl arrived with a lizard. He expected his usual reception, which is for Mrs. Owl to reach up to the doorway and grab it from him. However, her mouth was full of gecko, so he came down into the box. A lot of confusion resulted, in which he tried to hand it to her, as the owlet heads bobbed up and down in anticipation of all this lovely food. (photo 2). As he could get nobody to take his offering (the owlets being too small to grab a whole lizard), he left after about a minute (photo 3).



The next chapter of this unusual evening involved a fair bit of worry on our part. After Mr. Owl left, we heard a Barred Owl call in the back yard. Barred Owls are much bigger owls that eat, among other things, Screech Owls. There have been a pair of Barred Owls in our neighborhood since last summer, and on occasional nights during the last few months, we have heard their "YOOOOU-aaaall" or the full "Who cooks for you, who cooks for YOOOOU-aaaall?" song. We have been concerned that they might prevent or interrupt the Screech Owl nesting by eating one or both of the parents.
So after hearing the Barred Owl call tonight, we didn't see Mr. Owl for nearly 2 hours. During this time, Mrs. Owl went out several times, sometimes for as long as 23 minutes, and returned with food each time. We began to get concerned that perhaps something had happened to Mr. Owl, and she was being forced to hunt for the owlets' dinner. We began to speculate on what we would do if he did disappear, when he finally showed up with a food delivery. It turns out we missed a couple of deliveries that were recorded on the camera frame captures on the computer. But he was absent for over an hour, and Mrs. Owl's hunting behavior was unusual. Our conclusion is that it was a rather warm night (still over 70 degrees at midnight), and that perhaps she didn't need to incubate the owlets all the time. Perhaps she decided she might as well join the hunting effort. That or a bit of cabin fever.

Just the Three of Us

It's definitely three owlets now.

In the second photo, Mrs. Owl feeds a baby.

In the third photo, you can clealy see 3 little fuzzy bodies.

The Egg and Us

The owlets now have the strength to hold their heads up, though they spend a lot of their time snuggled up with their sister (or brother) inside the egg. Most of the day, they're not visible, but a couple of times yesterday, Mrs. Owl got up in the window and we could see the babies. We'll try to use Twitter to send instantaneous updates when the babies are visible. This is the only valuable use of Twitter I've discovered so far.
Last night, after a long, hungry day, the owlets got many feedings from their mother. You can see her feeding an owlet below, with eyes closed for safety. You don't want an overeager beak in your eye, when it is your best hunting asset.
Ants have also moved into the box, and can be seen marching in lines along the sides of the box. These are non-stinging Acrobat ants, and are only harmful to the degree that they eat any food that Mrs. Owl caches in the box for daytime feedings. Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do to clear them out, or prevent them getting in without disrupting the nesting, so they're here to stay.

And there are two!

Well, Mrs. Owl finally got off the brood long enough for us to notice that a second hatching occurred today sometime between 4:49pm and 8:17pm. All the intervening time, she was sitting in the way of our view. In the first photo, you can see the two fuzzy shapes (one above, and one to the right of the remaining egg.)

In the second photo, we have zoomed in on the face of one of the owlets looking at the camera. Below the word "Face", you can just make out the owl-like features (eyes and bill are a bit darker than the rest of it.)
This is what a newly-hatched screech owlet looks like.

Hatching Day!

Last night around 6pm, the first egg hatched, 29 days after it was laid. You can see that one of the shiny round eggs has expanded into a fuzzy roundish ball. Actually, it is more like 2 balls: a roundish head and a roundish body (see second photo.)
We have had only brief glimpses of the little fuzzball, mainly when Mrs. Owl has gone briefly into the doorway for a look around, or as she has preened herself.
The little owlet is unable to keep itself warm for the first 10 days, and so will have to be incubated just like the remaining 2 eggs. However, it will become increasingly active. Assuming the other 2 hatch, she will soon have a bubbling nest of fuzzy popcorn to sit on, and will soon seem to look forward to the day when she can also join the incessant hunt for food.
Normal fledging occurs within 24-32 days, so we expect fledging sometime between May 22nd and 30th.

The best time to get a view of the little one(s) is dawn (6-7am CDT) or dusk (8-9pm), when Mrs. Owl typically pops into the entrance and then briefly leaves the box. Sometimes if it is a very hot day (http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=73301) she sits in the entrance during the afternoon. At these times, the air temperature can do her incubation for her.
Enjoy the show.

Brood Patch

One of the fascinating things about many nesting birds is the brood patch. This is a patch of skin on the breast of female birds that undergoes changes during nesting in order to allow them to incubate the eggs. The brood patch loses its feathers and the skin grows extra blood vessels. This allows the female to snuggle onto the eggs and incubate them directly with her warm skin. The brood patch usually doesn't show, because it's enclosed by the surrounding feathers, like a vest.



However, in the second photo below, as she preens her breast feathers, you can see the split in her chest feathering, and the black downy edge of the feathers surrounding the patch.





Mr. Owl is still doing a yeoman's job delivering food to his hungry mate. Mrs. Owl has sat nearly constantly on the eggs since the beginning, and we expect hatching as soon as tomorrow, or as late as Saturday, May 2nd. Keep an eye tuned to the owlcam for one of the little round eggs to become a fuzzy roundish owlet.

Catching Up

Faithful owlcam watchers have noticed with dismay the lack of updates while obvious activity is going on in the box. Rest assured, we have not been neglecting the wonderful spectacle of life going on in our very back yard. Instead, we were on a different continent, observing a different spectacle. We never would have chosen to skip town at this time by ourselves, but a family wedding in South Africa and cousins in Malawi dictated events beyond our control.

But we're back. And amid jetlag and processing thousands of Africa photos we're catching up on events that the motion detector duly recorded to our hard drive. The quick version is that after various visits on March 20, 24, 26, 28, 29, and 30, she finally spent the day in the box on March 31, and laid the first egg about 3pm. After spending the days of April 1 and 2 in the box, but the nights mostly outside, Mrs. Owl came back to stay during the night of April 2-3 and laid a second egg. We haven't yet found the third egg date, but there are currently 3 eggs in the box, and she spends most of 24 hours a day incubating them. Nighttime temperatures in Austin have been in the 40's, and she has taken very short breaks at dawn and dusk. Her mate is duly feeding her insects and geckos.

Now we wait until hatching day. Eastern Screech Owls usually start incubating before the clutch is complete, which means that hatching will be staggered, and the babies will be differently sized. Depending on when the first egg started developing (she laid it on March 31st, but didn't incubate it the cold night (46°F) of April 1st, and half the night of April 2nd (45°F)), the hatching should take about 30 days. So, my guess is that the first hatch should occur between April 28 and May 4th, with the most likely date being May 2nd.

After that, the real fun begins, and the nestlings will grow rapidly over approximately 28 days, and leave the box. Stay tuned for the fun.

Two Visits

Early this morning, about 2:50 am we had two brief owl visits, presumably by Mrs. Owl. She did some looking around at the furniture, and a little bit of rearranging the nesting materials.

When we woke up, we found the box occupied, and thought nesting had started. But closer inspection revealed it was a squirrel, doing her own rearrangement of the nesting materials. We quickly went down with a long stick and tapped on the box, which sent her fleeing.

Both visitors looked like they were investigating a possible future home.

Visitor and Pantry

We have now had one brief owl visit (7:30pm March 4th). Unfortunately, the motion detector software didn't grab it. We have increased the sensitivity, now that we know the owls are looking at the box.
We have also had another occasional visitor, a curious squirrel. We've managed to scare him off by tossing tiny pebbles at the side of the box. This is intended to avoid injuries, but get the box chewer out of there so the owls can feel comfortable with nesting, and not have their internal furniture turned into wood shavings.
The box also comes with a stocked owl pantry, apparently. This cockroach, if he sticks around, is likely to become an owl snack. Who can argue with room and board?

Getting Ready for 2009 Season

Last season, we weren't very diligent in taking down the owlbox after the owlets fledged, because we were so busy getting President Obama elected. In our neglect, a family of squirrels moved in and built this leaf nest.
They also remodeled to remove furniture that didn't agree with their tastes. This included the interior perch and the climbing ladder on the back wall.

Luckily our friend Max, who originally built the box, agreed to re-renovate it. He used a natural wood theme.

This weekend, we put the box back up the tree, and installed the cameras. Unfortunately, the video capture card decided to come unsoldered, so we need to replace that.

But after that, we put on the motion detector and wait!