Egg Laying imminent?

Changes in behavior over the last two days have been profound.  The female has roosted in the box during the day every day.  She has spent a lot more time in and near the box at night.  The male delivered food to her at least 4 times last night--2 rodents (9:49 p.m. and 4:19 a.m.), a grub at midnight, and something unidentifiable about 11:00.  At daybreak, Momma entered the box shortly before 6:00 as she has the past few mornings but this time she was silent with the male staying on the roof calling until after 6:30.  She has been restless during the day today and many other birds are looking into the box as she moves about.  In recognition of the impending event, my friend Calum prepared a card that I will share with you.  Lots of rainbows for good luck!

I will have the live feed on at sundown (about 6:00 eastern standard time) when she should fly out and reveal any egg(s) that may have been laid during the day.

Waiting for Eggs; Live Feed News

As of this morning, she has not laid any eggs but she has roosted in the box for 4 straight days.  The only time she spent that many days in the box last year was just before the first egg.  So any day now.  The live feed will be on periodically but does not have audio at present.  Enjoy.

Papa Proves he is Ready

Early this morning, the male screech owl once again demonstrated that he is ready to provide for momma and her young during the nesting season.  In this unedited video he brings a mouse for her:

I am having some delays in preparing the live feed but hope to have it up and running before the eggs are laid.  Remember that the camera has some high frequency noise that you can minimize if you reduce the play-back volume on your computer.  Sorry.

Momma's Roosting Today!

Today was the first day of the spring that the female spent the entire day in the nest box!  Since my last post, night activity has been increasing steadily.  From February 19 through last night, nightly visits by both owls were recorded peaking on Thursday night with 8 visits for a total of more than 1.5 hours in the box.  On Saturday morning, Papa delivered a mouse and left it in the box.  Rather than eating it there, Momma picked it up and took it outside.

Last year, the first day she spent a day in the box was 3/5 and she did not start spending every day until 3/16 with the first egg laid on March 20.  I am setting up the computers for live feed so keep checking back here for the announcement!

Here are a couple of photos from the last few days:

And finally today:

Courtship

Courtship behavior is becoming almost nightly although it does not always occur in the next box.  Here are videos from the past week inside the box.  Note that neither owl is doing any daytime roosting in the box and has not since at least the end of November; at the same time, the squirrel has spent only 1 night in it.

Very early in the evening of February 8, I heard calling in the yard and recorded this in the box:

January at the Nest Box

Slowly but steadily, nesting season is approaching.  I have been recording the nest box every night (and some days).  At least one owl entered the box during the nights of 12/4, 12/30, 1/7, 1/9 (2 owls on video below), 1/19 (1 owl calling on video below), and 1/29.  In addition, I have caught a couple of other visitors and here are some still shots.  The one that is hard to identify is a Carolina Wren:

Here are two videos, first of two owls from January 9th:

The second is from January 19th:

NEW CAMERA MOUNT

The owl box has been down for about 4 months.  I finally decided how I wanted to mount the camera.  The new mount is in a 4" PVC tube attached to the top of the box.  That puts it  farther away from the action and allows the entire box, including the opening to be within the field of view.  I re-installed the box on the oak tree on Sunday, connected the camera, and started recording at night.  About 1:30 this morning, less than 48 hours after returning the box, one of the owls visited for about 2 minutes, checked out the new "digs", seemed to be comfortable and left.  Remember that last year, January was as early as any nesting behavior began.  I will post shorts between now and then.  If you "subscribe" you will automatically receive a notice when the live feed returns--otherwise, check back here regularly for updates.

Here is this mornings visit (watch for the talons to appear in the opening--not sure if this is Momma or dad):