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Sunday, October 12, 2014

Owl update


The owls are always around and the juveniles are still here as we hear their hooting and it is incomplete as in "who cooks for..."
We still hear the territory fights and I am not sure if I can ever leave this house without taking the owls with me...

Late December through February starts the mating season where the male feeds the female and gets rewarded for his efforts.  It is the male that does the house hunting and then the Mrs. has to approve. Since our owls have not used the box in 2 years, we are considering moving it to the back yard to see if that will entice them. If we do that, then I will start feeding them mice again to further convince them that this box is the place to be.

I leave you with some cool owl stuff.


Wednesday, May 7, 2014

For those of you in the 'hood, we see and hear the owls but do not know where the nest is. They should be very active at this point as they should have babies to feed so they are doing the 24/7 thing.  The best way to find them now is to listen for the cry of the owlets which sound like squirrels crying as in a high pitched, insolent "waaaah."  If any of you locals see or hear the babies, please let me know as I am curious to know where the heck they are and why they have forsaken me. Asses.

Not be dismayed, here is the link to the Cornell site which has barred owl triplets who are adorable.

Baby barred owlets times 3

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Husband gives wife crayfish...so sweet

Hoping they use the nesting box this season...

For those of you in the neighborhood, I'm sure you have heard a whole lot of hooting going on.  From December through early February, it is courting season. It is the male's job to find food and feed the female proving that he is a worthy suitor and good husband material. The hooting is usually indicative of "I'm here, where are you, you old fool. Bring me some dinner."  There have been three different times when we have heard and seen two pairs of owls so it will be fun to see how that pans out since owls are territorial.  We are hopeful that one of the pair will use the nesting box. We have kept the squirrels out which is sometimes a daily job. Squirrels are very slow learners.

If it doesn't work out with us, there is a guy in Florida who has an incredible three camera set up and he is posting. On Facebook, he is under "OwlWatch." He will post there the more exciting things that happen.His webcam is at http://owlguyz.blogspot.com/. He rotates between inside and outside views. It is very cool and I am very jealous. She is sitting on the nest now (Florida does things earlier). His YouTube Channel is Paul Yorke and lastly his blog is excellent with a lot of detail. http://owlguyy.blogspot.com/

Another very interesting webcam I found is at http://www.ustream.tv/okcowlcam. This is a great horned owl sitting on 3 eggs. She has used a planter on the balcony of a high rise condominium. Crazy. The planter is a little small for her so often her wing is outside the box.  This will be quite a show when the owlets are born.

We will keep hoping and keep mice handy in order to feed the owls to encourage them to house with us.