Last night there was a storm at the time that Momma Screech normally takes her break right after dark. She stayed in the box to protect the newly hatched owlets. The male brought food to her throughout the night including several small objects (probably moths or other large insects), a bird, and at least one rodent. She finally took her first break at 2:22 a.m. revealing that there is only one egg left in the nest. It is very difficult to count the young either in the following picture or in the video (not prepared for publication) but there do seem to be 5 healthy owlets.
At this stage they are blind, fluffy and helpless. It is going to be a very difficult task for the adults to provide enough food for all of these young. The box is also very small and they will grow fast.
During the day yesterday, Momma fed the newly hatched owlets from food she cached during the day. Hopefully she was able to cache some last night also. Soon, she will not be able to rely on Papa alone and will have to start hunting herself also. Stay tuned and let me know if you were following this natural phenomenon on Earth Day/Easter weekend.
1 comment:
I have been watching when I can--I have seen Mom feeding about 3-4 am one night. I am confident they will be able to raise these adorable owlets! What fun it is going to be to observe! Thank you for broadcasting and creating a wonderful blog.
Post a Comment