Romance is in the air

It has been a cold snowy month in Central New Jersey.  The cold finally broke about a week ago and it seems like the owls have sensed spring.  Activity at the nest box during the coldest times was very low with one of the adults (I am now pretty convinced it was the male roosting in the box almost everyday but very little activity after dark.  By very little I mean one, or at most two visits on any night back to the box and only rarely was this by both owls.  Atypical visit lasted no more than a minute--not very exciting if you were to stay awake waiting for it.  Thankfully, I can record and scan through the night in just a few minute.  Of course, I have no idea what they are doing away from the box except to say that I occasionally hear distant calling from the yard.

Since March 12, however, there have been nightly visits including last night when I recorded the following movie.  The entire clock time from fly out to the last visit shown was less than 20 minutes and I have compressed it to about 4.5 minutes for your pleasure.