Our Owl Log

May 29th

May 24-25: Three in the Trees

During the day, Little Baby did the usual flapping and exercising. He became very active during the 7pm hour, with preening of tail feathers, and attempted flights across the box and to the ceiling. He had a last party in the box, tossing up the nesting material. Like a rock star, he had decided to trash the place before he left.
He was up and he was down and he was up and was scared back down by a housefly! He watched us watching him for the longest time. He even took a little catnap while resting his head in the entrance hole. Fireflies twinkled through the diminishing daylight.
Mr. Owl left his post from the bushes behind the nest box tree at about 8:30pm.
Before receiving a first bite of food for the evening, at 8:40pm Little Baby eased himself ever so gently out of the hole. For a moment we thought he would just step down onto the branches we had installed for the owlets to exit on. But no. He flapped his wings to execute a perfect left turn, and landed in the same bushes that Mr. Owl has been in every day for the past 2+ months. We watched as he struggled to get a better footing. Then he moved into the center of the bush hidden by the leaves. All we could see were leaves moving.
THEN a parent owl appeared on one of the power lines above the rustling leaves. We were hoping to see it go to help Little Baby to the main tree.
Movement on the tree BEHIND the power lines caught our attention. It was BOTH of the of the first 2 fledglings!! They were hopping and playing with each other on a big limb at the back of our neighbor's property. We got the spotting scope on them and by then it was only one. We watched as an adult owl fed the one. Then from out of nowhere, the other one seemed to FLY to join his sibling!!!!
We figured that the previous night, the second fledgling must have walked back to to nest tree, and climbed it all the way to the canopy. It also must have flown across the gap to the tree in which we saw it with its sibling.
So all 3 owlets have made it out of the box, and into the trees. It has been a very successful nesting season.

For the next 3 days, we tried to find the owlets and their parents in the trees behind our and the neighbors' houses. We had little success, despite combing the branches with binoculars for several hours. The only sighting was a warning swoop by one of the parents on the evening of the 25th. Twice, it swooped about 5 ft above Andy's head, clapping its bill once each time. It moved on, and hunted from a branch before being lost into the woods. Andy searched the trees around the area of the warning, hoping that the owlets were near, but never found anything.

We still have to comb through the aromatic contents of the nest box, and will post the results of that. We will also post any future owl sightings or behavior observations.

We have photos of the eldest owlet in the tree, and of one of the other 2 in the doorway. See
Thanks for taking this wonderful journey with us. Tune in next March, when hopefully they will again choose our nestbox in which to raise another family.

[May 24-25: Three in the Trees">link]

May 23-24: Second Fledge/Last Supper

The daytime was much the same as recent days. Andy was out of town, and Julia was unable to locate the fledged owlet in the tree. One of the owlets in the box was very active during the afternoon, with lots of flapping, jumping, and wing stretching. Meanwhile, its sibling sat on the rail, or even slept on the floor.
At 8:07pm, the active one jumped up to the entrance. Less than a minute later, the rail-sitter (Little Baby) became very active, flapping and jumping. He may have been taking advantage of having the floor of the box to himself. At one point, Little Baby jumped up near the hole, and forced his sibling to move up above the hole (perhaps so he didn't get pushed out of the hole before he was ready.) However, he soon regained his position in the hole.
The entry-way owlet began vocalizing with a raspy twittering sound. It got 2 or 3 feedings during its sit in the hole. At 8:37, it eased its feet forward, and jumped out of the hole. It was headed for the same far off branch as the first fledgling had two nights ago. It only hung on for a couple of seconds and then dropped to the salvia bush below.
A parent was nearby throughout the ordeal. There was lots of commotion in the bushes and calls for help from the owlet on the ground. Julia donned the headlamp and long sleeves and gloves in an attempt to help. When she got there, the cries had stopped and there wasn't any reflection from the owlet's eyes in the flashlight beam. At the time, we had to just hope that this strong, healthy baby made it to the nearest tree (a live oak in the lower garden) with its parent's help.
This was very bad timing for Andy to be in California.
Meanwhile Little Baby flew up to the entryway the same second that his brother fledged. Julia thought he was going to fledge, too, especially as Chris Johnson's owls fledged in pairs. But perhaps the sight of his brother floundering in the branch, then calling from the bush scared him off that plan.
He appeared up and down in the entryway for the next 15 minutes, and then waited patiently for his first meal, at 10:26pm. This was a mouse, which was delivered at the entry way, and knocked him backwards on his tail.
He worked on the mouse, for at least an hour, and then continued working on and off for another 2h15min. At 2:02, he was delivered a blind snake. At 2:45, he chewed on the remains of the mouse again. Not much was left beyond the hindquarters and tail. He finished this last supper close to 4am.
These were the only two food deliveries he got all night. But the mouse was a feast.
Little Baby spent almost no time in the entryway during the night. After about 9pm, he went up only once, for 3 minutes. He was busy eating most of the night, and as the sole occupant of the box, there is no longer be a competitive advantage to being in the hole.

[May 23-24: Second Fledge/Last Supper">link]

May 22-23: Waiting

Daytime on the 22nd was much the same as usual, only with 2 owlets: flapping practice inside the box, and an occasional nest-material-scattering frenzy. Meanwhile, we found the fledgling way up in the canopy of the nestbox tree. It was in a cluster of leaves, with a parent at the base of the branch about 5 ft in and down from the owlet. Nothing would be able to approach the owlet from below without getting past the parent. We didn't find Mr. Owl in the bush behind the nest tree, so it could have been either parent up there. Later in the day, the owlet was still up there, but there was no parent visible up there. Mr. Owl was back in the bush behind the nestbox tree.
During the night, the owlets were quite cooperative with each other. They mostly alternated in the entranceway. They didn't stay up for great lengths of time (10-20 min), and when one came down, the other went up. During the middle part of the night (10pm-5am) the entranceway was mostly empty. There were very few feedings during this time (about 5), with the parent coming into the box a couple of times (once with a gecko). The parents may either be concentrating on feeding the fledged owlet, or be withholding food to encourage the other two to fledge. During the last part of the night (5-6:30am), they began to take short stints in the entryway again.

[May 22-23: Waiting">link]

May 22nd

May 21-22: Fledge!

On the evening of May 21st an owlet fledged! It climbed up into the entryway around 8:15pm, and looked around a lot. Then, just before 9pm, it began to wiggle forward, and launched itself forward, flying about 25 feet towards a cluster of leaves in a branch of the nestbox tree. It hit the leaves, but couldn't get a grip. It continued to flap and moved forward and down a bit to another cluster of leaves, nearly at the end of the branch. This time, it got a purchase, and was able to hang on. Another foot down, and it would have had to end up going all the way to the ground, probably ending up in the vegetable garden.
From this point, it began to climb and jump slowly up the limb. In about half an hour, we watched it climb about 15-20 feet up, and then lost it in the leaves. At one point, it made about a 5 foot vertical leap to the branch above its original branch.
In the morning we found the owlet 40 ft up in the tree, with a parent sitting at the base of the limb, about 3 ft away.
When we watched the video frames from the night, we saw that before the fledging, one owlet went on a flapping spree inside the box. It included wing stretching and a jump towards the ceiling. He got up into the entryway at 8:25pm. As he sat there, one of his siblings did a lot of jumping as well, while the third sat still, taking refuge between the rail and the far box wall. A probable feeding at 8:33 knocked the hole-sitter into the box, and the other active owlet got into the entryway. The third owlet became active, too. The hole sitter came down into the box, and we couldn't tell which one went back up. Then between 8:55 and 8:59, it left, and was replace in the hole by another one. We thought it would leave, too, but it did not.
There was nobody in the entryway from 9:13-10:39, during which there were only 3 feedings, so the fledged owlet is probably getting a good amount of the food. It seemed that there was quite a bit less food than there had been. There were several long periods with no owlets in the entryway, and during these times, we saw very few feedings. We can't really tell how many feedings there were during the hole-sitting periods. But it is likely the parents were withholding food to encourage fledging, and giving it to the fledged owlet.

[May 21-22: Fledge!">link]

May 20-21: Mouse on the Menu

This day was similar to the previous one: lots of flapping and jumping around the box. There was another party in the box, with one owlet kicking around nesting material.
Feeding seemed to start at 8:32pm, with a parent entering the box with a gecko. There were owlets in the entryway on and off, but no adults entered the box again all night. At 5:25am a mouse was delivered. The receiving owlet worked on it until close to 7:00am. Various owlets ate from it on and off until 11:30am, or possibly even 12:30pm.
One interesting observation: When an owlet is flapping, the others close their eyes for protection.
Daytime leaving: Mrs. Owl gone all day.

[May 20-21: Mouse on the Menu">link]

May 21st

May 19-20: Jumping Jacks

During the daytime of the 19th, the owlets again did lots of jumping and flapping inside the box. A new behavior is for them to fly up to one of the walls of the box and hang on there. At several points, there was one owlet in the door, another on the wall, and another in the process of jumping up, leaving nobody on the floor.
We witnessed one of the owlets kicking around the nesting material again in a frenzy. We still speculate that it is either nesting behavior practice, or a search for food.
There were very few inside-the-box feedings, so whichever owlet was in the doorway at the time got most of the food. There were no large items that were delivered inside the box.
Daytime leaving: Mrs. Owl gone all day.

[May 19-20: Jumping Jacks">link]

May 20th

May 18-19: Exercises

The owlets were even more active this day, with large jumps towards the walls, the railing, and the camera compartment. There was lots of wing-stretching, too. They are definitely exercising their wings, and trying to do what they can to simulate flying inside the box. They sit in the entry for many periods around 15 minutes long at night, though not during the day. Often, one will come down with food, and another will go up shortly afterwards. It is not clear whether they are rotating, or whether the two older owlets are up there more often than the youngest. As the size differences have disappeared, we cannot tell for sure.
At one point, one of the owlets did a lot of digging and backwards kicking again, sending the nesting material flying. Perhaps it is a female, exercising an instinct for nestmaking.
Daytime leaving: Mrs. Owl gone all day.

[May 18-19: Exercises">link]

May 18th

May 17-18: Two Heads

During the day, the owlets did a lot of jumping inside the box. It looks like they can jump at least 6-8 inches, which will help them in exiting the box and climbing around the trees when they fledge in a few days. None of the owlets sat in the entryway until 8:02pm. At one point, a second owlet poked his head up, and there were 2 heads in the entryway.
We are now giving up counting the feedings, because it is just getting too unreliable. There is often an owlet in the entryway, so we miss feedings that way, and there is much crowding by the camera. We did see 2 geckos and 1 blind snake, but surely missed others. We watched 5 feedings in the 8pm hour through the spotting scope, so we know they're still happening regularly. The doorway owlet is able to take the food without falling down out of the entryway.
At one point, we watched one owlet preen its sibling's feathers. The flight feathers are looking quite well-developed, now.
Daytime leaving: Mrs. Owl gone all day.

[May 17-18: Two Heads">link]

May 16-17: Tree Adjustments

The owlets are still very active inside the box. At one point, there were 2 owlets on the internal rail. There were 5 entryway sits by the owlets during the day, and 5 more at night. Although we only managed to count 29 feedings, there were 6 geckos and a blind snake (or perhaps earthworm).
On the evening of the 16th, we took down the metal flashing from around the tree. This was there to deter predators like raccoons and snakes. However, now there is a possibility of an owlet fledging to the ground, and we must make the tree available for him to climb back up (as it will, if this happens). One of the parents flew away from the bush behind the tree as we did this.
In the morning of the 17th, Andy climbed the tree to attach an external rail for the owlets to fledge to. I was expecting possible attacks from the parents, which they are likely to do in the 4th nestling week, but luckily, they sat tight. The owlets hunkered down. I then put a plastic cup in the entryway so nobody would panic and leave as I opened the camera compartment to add a second infrared illuminator. This one is higher up, to attempt to light the entryway even when the owlets are crammed against the lower one. Unfortunately, it slipped forward a bit as I closed the box, and is now partially obscuring the camera. But it doesn't block much of the action.

Hour	8	9	10	11	12	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	TOTAL
Deliveries	2	3	5	0	7	2	4	1	2	1	2	0	at least 29

Daytime leaving: Mrs. Owl gone all day.

[May 16-17: Tree Adjustments">link]

May 17th

May 15-16: Romper Room

The 15th was a romper room, with lots of jump-flapping inside the box. The owlets jump-flapped to the railing and the doorway, and again attempted to climb the camera compartment plastic. Again, they are taking flying runs across the box. They are beginning to show tail feathers, though their tails are still pretty much rounded stumps.
We saw a similar number of deliveries, probably missing on the order or 5-10, due to darkness and occasional owlets in the doorway. When in the doorway, we've seen the owlets come down (or sort of fall down) with food. So perhaps in the act of taking food, they sort of get pushed in, or lose their balance. This helps the others, as it frees up the doorway, and prevents one owlet hogging all the food for a long time. During the night, there was only one doorway sit by an owlet in the middle of the night, for 7 minutes, plus 2 more during the 6am hour.
Mrs. Owl was again out all day, entering the box only during some of her night-time feedings.

Hour	8	9	10	11	12	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	TOTAL
Deliveries	5	0	7	3	5	3	1	4	3	3	5	0	at least 39

Daytime leaving: gone all day.

[May 15-16: Romper Room ">link]

May 14-15: Seeing the world

Mrs. Owl returned at 7:49am. She may have done a small amount of feeding the remains of the morning's bird to the owlets, but we didn't see much of this going on. Mostly, she sat in the doorway all day, dropping down for a few minutes from time to time. The owlets got up onto the perch a couple of times.
Mrs. Owl left at 8:23pm. We had better visibility of the feeding tonight, seeing 5 geckos and 2 blind snakes.
One of the owlets jump-flapped up to the entranceway a few minutes after Mrs. Owl left, and sat there a short while. In the morning, there was more flapping, an attempt to get to the doorway. One of them got up to the entrance at 6:18am.

Hour	8	9	10	11	12	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	TOTAL
Deliveries	2	4	5	3	1	5	3	6	7	5	3	0	at least 44

Daytime leaving: none.

[May 14-15: Seeing the world">link]

May 16th

May 13-14: More Wall-Climbing

On the 13th, the owlets spent more time climbing the walls and taking experimental flapping runs along the length of the box. One owlet jump-flapped up to the internal rail and stayed up for 4 minutes. You can see here, and here how the flight feathers (primaries) are developing. Another owlet stood very tall to peek out of the entryway. At 7:38pm, one of the owlets began digging in the wood chips, making them fly. Perhaps he was determined to find food. There is again much attempted climbing of the camera compartment, some quite successful.
Mrs. Owl was gone all day, staying out of this mayhem.
Food began coming at 8:36pm. Again, we couldn't determine all the deliveries, so 39 is probably a low estimate. Soon, when the owlets begin sitting in the entry, our accuracy will drop further, since we won't even see the adults enter the box. We noticed a gecko, but mostly couldn't tell the identity of the prey. Mr. Owl (we presume) tried to deliver a bird at 6:09am, but failed to get someone to take it. He left with it, and it was redelivered at 6:12am (presumably by Mrs. Owl). One of the owlets worked on swallowing it whole for a while, unsuccesfully. About 15 minutes later, he seemed to be tearing at it, so perhaps he is learning how to eat it. Later, he seemed to be trying to swallow a whole wing with feathers unsuccesfully. So there is still learning going on. We were expecting Mrs. Owl to come in at some point and do her food preparation magic, but it didn't happen. She returned at 7:49am, but the rest is tomorrow's blog entry.

Hour	8	9	10	11	12	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	TOTAL
Deliveries	4	5	6	2	4	6	0	4	1	4	3	0	at least 39

Daytime leaving: gone all day.

[May 13-14: More Wall-Climbing">link]

May 12-13: Mom's Day Out

Mrs. Owl was out most of the day today. She returned to her brood at 4:58pm, but stayed mostly in the doorway, popping down for 1-2 minutes at a time. She left for the night at 8:20pm.
The owlets are now trying to get to the entrance. At 8:33pm, one of the owlets jumped up to the entrance, and looked out briefly, dropping down very soon after. In the morning around 6:25, there was another attempt to get to the entrance, accompanied by a lot of flapping.
We are still having trouble seeing all the feedings, because of the crowding against the light and the camera. There surely must have been more than the 36 feedings we discerned during the night. The feedings we can see, we usually can't tell what the item is, because the light is so diminished. There were 2 geckos we could determine.
Flight feathers are developing more, coming out of their sheaths. There are also some attempts to climb the clear plastic camera compartment divider. They must see the shelves in there as a tempting way to climb, and try repeatedly to get their feet up. This gives us good looks at their feet with their pads in the camera. There is occasional touching of open bills by the owlets. Whether this is sparring, misguided food begging, or just friendly behavior, we cannot tell.

Hour	8	9	10	11	12	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	TOTAL
Deliveries	2	4	4	2	5	3	2	2	6	3	3	0	at least 36

Daytime leaving: gone from last morning feeding until 4:58pm.

[May 12-13: Mom's Day Out">link]

May 12th

May 11-12: Exploring the Box

Mrs. Owl sat in the doorway most of the day again today, but didn't leave during the day. She left at 8:10pm.The feeding started rather intensely, with over 1/3 of the nights deliveries in the first 2 hours. The total (48) was similar to the prior few nights, including at least 5 geckos, a large lizard, and a blind snake. Again, there was no bird or mammal.
One of the owlets experimented with getting his head under the internal perching rail, but none of the owlets have yet attempted to climb either the walls or the rail. They still flap, and stretch up, but none has yet had a peek out the entrance hole.
Mrs. Owl did not return to the box in the morning. Perhaps if she is gone all day, they will have a chance to get curious enough about the outside world to try to peek out the entrance. We are probably 8-10 days from the first fledging now.

Hour	8	9	10	11	12	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	TOTAL
Deliveries	7	11	4	1	2	5	5	2	6	4	1	0	48

Daytime leaving: none

[May 11-12: Exploring the Box">link]

May 11th

May 10-11: Food Mining

During the day of the 10th, the owlets spent some time alert_1_20050510_182949_04.jpg">digging in the nesting material, presumably looking for food. Bits of wood chips went flying around the box. Mrs. Owl discovered an uneaten leg and swallowed it. Who knows how old it was? Yikes. This is a gruesome affair.
She left (to pick up Owlkaseltzers) at 8:14pm. There were slightly more deliveries this night than the previous one, but still no large prey items. We counted 5 geckos and 2 blind snakes (photo 2, photo 3, photo 4, photo 5, photo 6 ), but by now the majority of the feedings are blocked by the standing excited owlets. They can stretch their bodies quite tall, and sometimes look like little prairie dogs.
Mrs. Owl returned for the night at 7:46am, again quite late.

Hour	8	9	10	11	12	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	TOTAL
Deliveries	10	6	6	3	3	4	7	4	3	2	2	0	50

Daytime leaving: none

[May 10-11: Food Mining">link]

May 10th

May 9-10: Sixteen Geckos Make a Lovely Night

Mrs. Owl fed a cached food item (probably the bird) to the owlets in the afternoon. She spent most of the day sitting in the entryway. The older owlets are beginning to have their wing feather tips break out of the sheaths in which they have been enclosed. There was lots of wing-flapping both night and day. The owlets often preen, too. The two older owlets have their eyes open most of the time, and do a lot of staring. They are also either smearing or scratching the lexan partition of the camera compartment, so our view gets worse every day. That, combined with their bulk blocking the single light source, obscures some of the feedings, as on the last few nights.
Tonight, the bulk of the food came in the form of at least 16 geckos and 5 blind snakes. So, although there were only 48 food deliveries, there should have been a reasonable amount of food. Unfortunately, there was nothing cached, so the day would have been a hungry one, again.
Mrs. Owl left very early in the evening, at 7:44pm. She returned from all the hunting at 7:27am, which is rather late. She didn't spend any significant periods in the box during the night.

Hour	8	9	10	11	12	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	TOTAL
Deliveries	9	7	3	3	4	3	4	2	3	6	4	0	48

Daytime leaving: 4:10-5:29pm

[May 9-10: Sixteen Geckos Make a Lovely Night">link]

May 9th

May 8-9: Thunderstorms

Mrs. Owl sat in the doorway much of the day, and left 5 times for a few minutes to over an hour. The day's storms brought fallout conditions of migrants, including many warblers, and a Rose-breasted Grosbeak to the yard. Perhaps Mrs. Owl left to chase a few of them, but didn't bring anything back.
She left for the evening at 8:10pm. The night was a lean one again, with very few feedings in the early part of the night, probably due to the rain. The owlets are now crowding against the glass and blocking the light, so it's hard to see what most of the items are. We managed to see 2 geckos and a centipede.
At 5:08, Mrs. Owl brought a large item (looked like a bird), and spent 31 minutes feeding it to the owlets. She came back at 6:34 and fed them from it again, so it must have been fairly large. That is good, as the total number of feedings was significantly down from previous nights.
She returned for the day at 6:47am, wet, perhaps from a bath.

Hour	8	9	10	11	12	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	TOTAL
Deliveries	1	4	4	3	3	3	8	5	6	3(bird)	1	0	41

Entrance log: 2 minutes, 31 minutes (with bird), 6 minutes.
Daytime leaving: 78, 48, 14, 16, and 1 minute.

[May 8-9: Thunderstorms">link]

May 8th

May 7-8: Lean times

Mrs. Owl left at 8:03pm. From that point on, she only came back to feed the owlets, leaving immediately afterwards. There were significantly fewer feedings this night (down 20% from last night), but 15 of them were geckos, so perhaps the food supply was adequate. There was, however no major prey item (birds or mammals), and no cached food in the box, so the day was probably a little lean.
Mrs. Owl returned at 6:57am.

Hour	8	9	10	11	12	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	TOTAL
Deliveries	6	7	8	2	4	6	4	3	2	8	6	0	56

Entrance log: no long stays
Daytime leaving: none.

[May 7-8: Lean times">link]

May 7th

May 6-7: Of Runts and Survival

Mrs. Owl left three times during the day for 10-17 minutes, perhaps to hunt, though we didn't see her come back with food.
She left for the evening at 8:10pm, and from then on, returned only to feed the owlets. At 12:17am, she brought in a bird, probably a male cardinal. She stayed in the box for 35 minutes feeding it to the owlets. She came in a couple of times later in the night with food, and stayed for 15-18 minutes, again feeding more of the bird to the owlets, and then sitting in the entryway.
Other food: geckos, 1 blind snake, insects.
The owlets are beginning to try stretching to reach the entryway to see out. Sometimes, they reach up and grab a food item without the adult having to come into the box. They mostly like to keep their eyes closed, but will open them from time to time to look around at things. They look very cute with their eyes open: pic1,
pic2, pic3, pic4. They are beginning to acquire the facial discs that will help them capture sound for hunting.
There is quite an uneven food distribution going on. At one point, we watched one of the elder owlets receive 7 feedings in a row, 4 of them geckos. He did this by being positioned closer to the door. Our friend, Susie said he needed an Owlkaseltzer. During this period, the smallest was sort of smashed in the corner. He tried to wriggle out of the jam a few times without success. He eventually made it, but it was a struggle, and took energy. All of this on no recent food.
Mr. Owl prefers to lean way down into the box with his feet holding high up. He will reach down and feed the first mouth that grabs for the food. So in this case, this older owlet was able to grab most of it. Mrs. Owl feeds differently. She usually comes down to the floor of the box, faces away from the owlets, and denies them access to the food. She will then choose whom to give it to, often favoring one of the less recently-fed owlets. She sort of body-blocks the other owlets from moving.
So the net result of this is that the more agressive owlets get most of the food from Mr. Owl, while Mrs. Owl makes sure that some food gets to everyone. With larger objects (birds and large geckos), she will feed bites to all three owlets, and sometimes swallow a bite herself. This behavior matches Gehlbach's statistical observation that nests with more experienced females are less likely to have a runt owlet die. From my single set of observations, it would seem that part of the reason for this effect may be that a more experienced female may be more capable of understanding who needs food and parceling it out. It may be, too, that a more experienced female is a better hunter, and brings food more frequently. This would also increase the amount of food going to the youngest of the brood. The biggest dangers for the runts of the brood are starvation and suffocation, if they don't manage to grow as fast as their older siblings. Adequate feeding all around prevents this situation.
In this photo, note the owlet's nostrils, which will later become hidden by feathers.

Hour	8	9	10	11	12	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	TOTAL
Deliveries	17!	3	7	5	2(bird)	3	2	7	2	14	8	0	70

Entrance log: 5, 35, 11, 15, 18, 8 minutes TOTAL: inside: 92 minutes of the night.
Daytime leaving: 10:49-59am, 1:46-2:00pm, 4:45-5:02pm.

[May 6-7: Of Runts and Survival">link]

May 6th

May 5-6: Daytime Hunter

Mrs. Owl was up in the entrance for long periods today of around 30 minutes. She was probably up more than she was in. In fact, at one point she tried to climb the lexan partition, probably because she can see the metal shelves beyond. So she is literally climbing the walls in the day. We got a good look at her foot as she did this. Note the pads, and the way 2 toes point forward and 2 backward. She may well be going up to the entrance to get some rest, or to get away from the smell of the nesting material.
She left in broad daylight, at 5:23pm and began hunting. I observed her perched in a tree limb, and occasionally swooping at bushes. The chickadees and cardinals went crazy, chirping and pssshing at her. It was a dangerous operation, though, as she was making swooping passes. She failed to catch anything, though. At 6:39, she poked in her head to check on her brood, and then roosted in the bush next to the nest tree until dusk.
The first food came at 8:11, and was fairly evenly distributed throughout the night, with a flurry in the 3am hour. There were 15 geckos, which is the highest total of them so far. Many of these came in 2 or 3 successive feedings, so the owls must be visiting lights or places where they congregate and cleaning them out from time to time. Another delivery was a live blind snake, which was handed to an owlet. The owlet grabbed a coil, and not the head, and we never saw him gulp it, so it is quite possible the snake got away and is now cleaning up the fly larvae and ants in the nesting material. We'll probably find out when we clean out the box whether any live blind snakes are in there. The rest of the food looked like insects or spiders.
There is also considerable stretching of wings, which now have well-defined flight feathers on them. They won't be flight-capable for a few weeks, yet, but they are all visible on the eldest of the owlets.
Again, for those interested, all the day's photos are available by clicking the title, "May 5-6..."

Hour	8	9	10	11	12	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	TOTAL
Deliveries	5	5	6	4	5	6	6	11	6	2	6	0	62

Entrance log: 5, 7, 5, 4, 7 minutes TOTAL: inside: 28 minutes of the night.

[May 5-6: Daytime Hunter">link]

May 5th

May 4-5: Cinco de Mayo

Mrs. Owl left from 8:14-8:33pm, coming back wet. She then spent most of the night out of the box, so instead of noting exits, we'll note when she was in. Both parents are bringing food. The male is successful handing off things as large as geckos. In fact, when he arrived at 6:08 with a bird, he reached way down into the box, and spent a good amount of effort trying to get an owlet to take it. Eventually, one grabbed it, and he left. The owlet, however didn't know how to eat it, so it had to wait until Mrs. Owl got home.
Mrs. Owl did stay for one extended period from 3:11-5:11am, and spent some time brooding the owlets, even though they are wriggly, and don't really fit under her any more. So, they still need some warmth from Mrs. Owl during the cold part of the night.
Another first was a daylight food delivery. Mr. Owl brought a bird at 7:44am, over an hour after Mrs. Owl returned for the day. As Mr. Owl wasn't bringing food during this time, it is possible that this was just a catch of opportunity. Someone ventured too close to him, and he snatched it and brought it in.
Food today included 7 geckos, 2 birds, a large spider, and a moth. The owlets are getting big, and when food comes, they stand up in excitement, and block the light. So it's hard to see what is going on sometimes. Next year, I need an additional light source near the ceiling, so they can't block the light so easily.

Hour	8	9	10	11	12	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	TOTAL
Deliveries	5	6	8	7	10	7	2	5	7	7	6(bird)	1(bird)	71

Entrance log: 3, 9, 6, 13, 17, 21, 120 minutes TOTAL: inside: 189 minutes.

[May 4-5: Cinco de Mayo">link]

May 4th

May 3-4: Wings

For the first time, we saw the owlets exercising their wings. They have short little feathers appearing through the down. They are actually beginning to look like little owls, when they open their eyes.
Mrs. Owl took a long 8:00-9:00pm break, and was, in fact gone for a total of 5-1/2 hours during the night, during 16 forays. There was quite a bit of food delivered, including at least 8 geckos, a blind snake, a fuzzy thing (bird? mouse?), and a dark bird (blackbird or cardinal) at 5:25am.
Starting about 3am, Mrs. Owl began brooding the owlets. She had been either absent or preparing food up to that point, but at 3am, the night chill must have begun to set in. Brooding the owlets is no easy affair, as they are like a bubbling pot of oatmeal, constantly shifting around (at least in the time-lapse motion we see). Mrs. Owl certainly can't be getting much rest as she broods them.
She was up in the entrance 11 times, for 10-30 minutes or so each time.

Hour	8	9	10	11	12	1	2	3	4	5	6	TOTAL
Deliveries	12	10	5	2	7	3	4	1(fuzzy thing)	7	3(bird)	3	57

Exit log: 16 exits, 60,21,12,2,8,14,44,2,20,16,29,17,21,5,37 & 17 minutes TOTAL: 325 minutes.

[May 3-4: Wings">link]

May 3rd

May 2-3

There were not nearly as many feedings this night, though they did include 2 birds, one at the beginning of the night. Mrs. Owl went up in the entrance only twice during the day, for very short periods. She left from 8:05-31pm, and took a 10-minute predawn break. She also left 4 more times in the night, but didn't seem to return with food from most of them. She had a bath during her post-sunset break. Thus, Mr. Owl brought most of the food, including 2 birds and 4 geckos.
At one point in the evening, I watched as the 2 larger babies were crowding out the younger one for access to something Mrs. Owl was tearing up. At one point, however, she paused and held up a large chunk over their heads. She held it for close to a minute until the youngest crawled up over his siblings and took it from her. It appeared as if she was trying to ensure that everybody got at least something.
At another point, I observed the male bring an insect, and spend about 10 seconds trying to feed it to the back of an owlet's head before giving up. These are owlets whom I've observed swallowing whole, Mediterranean geckos. The female was absent. So, the male seems to have a very limited patience for feeding attempts. He also has a limited handoff behavior. He doesn't take the effort to try to coax, or reposition to ensure a handoff.

Hour	8	9	10	11	12	1	2	3	4	5	6	TOTAL
Deliveries	3	3(bird)	1	8	5	3	7	1	2	2	1	36

Exit log: 6 exits, 101 minutes.

[May 2-3">link]

May 2nd

May 1-2: The Motherlode

Mr. Owl figured out where the food was hiding this night. He brought 94 food deliveries: 9 geckos, 2 blind snakes, 2 birds, and about 81 insects! Half the geckos were brought in a 40-minute period near the start of the night, so he might have found a feeding ground for these reptiles. They like to congregate at lights, where they feed on insects. We're not sure if Mr. Owl is getting better at hunting, as he figures out the local food sources, or if he's just working harder at food sources he's already learned. Many times, he would come back in less than a minute, so some of his food sources must be fairly close by.
Mrs. Owl took a 24-minute evening break, and 3 more breaks in the night, including a pre-dawn break. The bird deliveries arrived between 6:31 and 6:37, so perhaps Mr. Owl is preying on birds singing their dawn songs. It's a dangerous place to be singing right now. The birds were not needed yet, after the deluge of food, so they were cached in the corner. Perhaps Mr. Owl was laying in food so he could have a lazy night tonight. Unlikely, but we'll find out.

Hour	8	9	10	11	12	1	2	3	4	5	6	TOTAL
Deliveries	7	16	11	10	10	12	5	5	9	6	3(two birds)	94

Exit log: 4 exits, 57 minutes.

[May 1-2: The Motherlode">link]

April 30-May 1: Food is late in coming

Saturday morning was rainy, cold, and windy. Mrs. Owl brooded the owlets most of the morning, and only sat in the doorway starting mid-afternoon, and then only 4 times, for short 3-minute periods. Mrs. Owl left at 8:24pm, for only 9 minutes. She left only 5 times in the night, which was also cold, with temperatures dropping into the high 40s. She was out only 48 minutes, and took no predawn break.
After a big start, there were relatively few food deliveries for most of the night, with no food at all between 11:48pm and 3:27am. Then, at 5:01, he brought a big bird, which they struggled to get into the box. He ended up coming in with it. She spent most of the next hour feeding the bird to the owlets. At 5:55, Mr. Owl delivered another partial bird, which she cached. Mrs. Owl worked on the bird during the morning, too. Her work on the bird, or the coldness of the morning might have been factors in her not taking her predawn break.

Hour	8	9	10	11	12	1	2	3	4	5	6	TOTAL
Deliveries	10	2	0	6	0	0	0	1	1	6(2 birds)	0	26

Exit log: 5 exits.

[April 30-May 1: Food is late in coming">link]

April 29-30: Hot Day and Rain

The temperature got in the low-90's during the day, and Mrs. Owl sat in the doorway 13 times, sometimes up to an hour at a time. Food deliveries began at 8:32, and Mrs. Owl took her brak from 8:35-9:04pm. The male was successful again at feeding the owlets small food items. She left 13 times, mostly to hunt in the night. She was gone 126 minutes total. There were 40 food deliveries in the night, including 3 geckos. The rest were insects, as far as we could tell.

Hour	8	9	10	11	12	1	2	3	4	5	6	TOTAL
Deliveries	3	10	4	4	6	1	3	6	1	0	2	40

Exit log: 13 exits.

[April 29-30: Hot Day and Rain">link]

May 1st

April 28-29: A Warm Texas Night

On this night, Mrs. Owl was able to leave the box and go hunting several times, due to the temperatures staying in the mid-60s. The male also successfully delivered food directly to the owlets for the first time. In the past, he has required Mrs. Owl to be there to receive it. But the owlets now grab small food items themselves.
Mrs. Owl left the box from 8:20-9:05pm, and also left to hunt 11 other times before her morning break. These ranged from 3-25 minutes. So she was out a total of 13 times, for a total of 249 minutes (over 4 hours). She brought back food most of these times, and returned wet after one of her early morning forays.
There were a total of 46 deliveries. Identifiable items included 5 geckos, and a lizard. The rest were mostly insects.
The day before (April 28th) was very hot, and Mrs. Owl frequently (11 times) sat in the doorway, watching the world go by.

Hour	8	9	10	11	12	1	2	3	4	5	6	TOTAL
Deliveries	0	3	2	4	2	5	5	7	2	1	15	46

Exit log: 13 exits.

[April 28-29: A Warm Texas Night">link]

Home
Owlcam: Inside the Box
Owl Log Home
Archives
Our Photo Gallery
Nestbox Equipment
Chris's Owl Camera
RSS Feed

May 2005
S	M	T	W	T	F	S
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30	31