The last owlet had a mostly quiet day in the box. He did seem to take advantage of having all the room with no brothers in the way. He walked around the box, stared at the camera compartment and at things in the box (ants?) He stretched his wings (look at the beautiful flight feathers in photo 3). The flight feathers had grown in just 30 days since hatching. In the evening, rather late (about 8:40pm), he went into the doorway and looked around. But then he popped down again
and we thought it was getting a bit dark for him to venture out.
However, around 9:00, he got active again, stretching wings and climbing around. Then he got up in the entrance and sat a couple of minutes, but with his feet safely planted on the inside rim of the hole. Then he did what his two siblings did before, and shifted the feet and his weight to the front rim of the entrance. And then he was gone.
It was too dark to see where he went, but I heard the sound of him crashing into leaves, so I think he landed in a tree. I went to look with a flashlight, to be sure he was safely off the ground from cats, and didn't find him. We can only hope for the best at this stage, but we have yet to end up with an owlet on the ground. One owlet one year ended up on a the compost pile fencing, but the rest have all landed in trees.
We may or may not be able to locate them in the branches the next couple of days, but after that, this will likely be the last time we'll see them. They should spend the summer in our neighborhood, learning to fly and hunt. Then, they'll be chased off the territory to avoid inbreeding, and will find homes of their own. We feel very fortunate that they chose to nest with us again. We've learned some lessons about bee management, and will likely be able to allow bees and owls to be peacefully separated should this happen again.
We thank all those people who watched the screechcam this year, and told us their own nestbox, owl, and bird stories, or just told us how much they were enjoying it. Hopefully we've entertained and educated a few people with this story. Join us again next year. We'll try to send out an update on twitter and the yahoo group when the season begins again.
In the first, you can see her "ear" tufts in reaction to my stepping out into the yard. She had been in the doorway, and I didn't realize it. She dropped down. However, she was back in the door watching the morning a few minutes later.
Mrs. Owl showed up at 11:32 on March 16th, after 2 full days absence. She spent about 25 minutes in the box, rearranging the nest floor. She returned at 12:56am for 12 more minutes, and then stayed out all night until 7:24 am on the 17th. She is still out hunting at night, and will do so until she (hopefully) lays and starts sitting on eggs.
We've had a few brief visits by wasps, too. Hopefully they won't decide to try to set up shop in there.
, an owl visited for 6 minutes. This was likely Mrs. Owl, as she moved around the nesting material on the bottom of the box during the visit. We think we've only seen this behavior from Mrs. Owl. So, hopefully, she is preparing the accommodations for a lengthy stay.
The owl arrived at about 7:21pm, staying for about a minute, and then came back at 7:27, staying for 10 minutes. Hopefully, the female will come to stay in a few days and start laying eggs. In our box, the egg-laying has usually happened pretty quickly. They don't spend much time setting up house.
We're expecting a departure tonight, but will wait and see. The sycamore and cedar elm trees that they perched in last year in the days following fledging are much sparser in leaf due to the drought. I looked for, and failed to find the fledged two this evening, so perhaps they are staying down in the denser-leaved ligustrum or live oak branches.
10pm tonight, the first owlet stepped up to the window, got first one, then two feet out, looked around, and flew off into the trees next to the box. All of this took 40 seconds, although he had earlier spent a good amount of time in the window before dusk set it. He actually hovered for a second or two as he looked for a place to land. Other fledging flights we have seen in the past have been more direct downward glides. This one has been in the box an extra 2 or 3 days beyond the average, and has probably developed his flight muscles and feathers to the degree that he is capable of slightly more sustained flying. He will still spend most of his time walking in the branches for the next part of his life, but he has achieved freedom from the box.
We'll keep an eye on what the other two do.
But in the end, two successive feeding parents came, and he stepped back inside, seemingly having decided that another night of food inside the box was a good idea. Shortly afterwards, there was quite a scramble inside the box for position near the door. But later all three settled down on the box floor, content to just wait for what was to come.
It's time for the next stage of their lives to begin!
Yesterday was a day for the owlets to do a lot of stretching and climbing. At times they hung their heads down in a comical fashion as they dozed. They stretched wings, stood up tall, and at several points, all three of them were up on the railings and off the floor. They are taking short stints in the doorway, looking out at the world. These are the first owlets we've had that have actually seen the world in a dramatic way before leaving the box voluntarily. We can only speculate what they must think of it all, and what they must think of people.
A bit of lizard tail hanging out of the mouth.
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