Our Western Screech-Owls Did Not Survive

 Dear Owl Lovers,

I'm sorry to report we lost our owl family.

The short version is that all four eggs hatched and we had 4 vigorous owlets. When they were about 10--12 days old, the mother owl, who we called "Peach" after our street name, left and did not return. We had to leave the owlets alone overnight, hoping she would return, but she did not and they perished by morning. The male, "Blue" has not been seen.

I have taken them to the state lab to have them tested for bird flu, but they all seemed healthy up until the last. It's possible the mother had it or she died in some other way. Regardless, the entire family and FB community are grieving.

Next year, if we have owls, we won't name them or follow them quite so closely until they are ready to fledge.

So, sorry to disappoint. I won't include any more pics or video here, because there's no point in torturing you, but if you want to see more, you can go to my FB page. We don't have to be friends because the owl images and video are in a public folder.

Happy Spring (otherwise!),

Patricia Gander Rich (FB profile)

Are You Ready for Four Owlets to Hatch?

Dear Owl Enthusiasts,

After taking a year off, Peach and Blue are at it again. (At least we're assuming it's our same owl pair from two years ago.) They have four eggs in our nest box and those are due to start hatching in a week or more. We've been live-streaming on my FB page, but not YouTube at this point. 

Two of our grandchildren, Vander (4 1/2) and Vv (8 1/2) have chosen the names for the first two who hatch. Vander's choice for the first owlet is Powell (after their street) and Vv's is Shadow (after her school).

We're hearing avian flu is getting some owls in Minnesota and we're a bit concerned about that, but hopefully we're going to avoid that here.

Like last time, we have a camera in the nest box, so there will be lots of pics and video to come!

Thanks for reading and watching.

#20 Chryssa's Owls

Chryssa's nest box for surprise owls.

Dear Owl Enthusiasts,

Just when you thought we were finished talking about owls for this year, here we are again with news! Four nights ago, our daughter heard a pair of owls in her yard a few miles from our house. It was 10 PM when she posted on FB, "I need a nest box! Male and female western screech owls calling to each other."

Let me give the reader some back story. Owls usually start locating nest boxes (or tree cavities) in January or February. Then, the first of March, they usually lay eggs. The eggs hatch the first of April and the owlets fledge the first of June, all dates being approximate, of course. So, why would a pair of owls be duetting (calling back and forth and together) in June? Well, very little research has been done on Western Screech-Owls, so I'll make a semi-educated guess. They are either interested in having a second brood or they lost their first one. Or, of course they could be duetting for an unknown reason. 

What was I to do? I went to Wild Birds Unlimited to see what I could buy ready-made. They do have beautifully crafted owl nest boxes, but I didn't want to spring for the money, so I took my printout of nest box plans from the Audubon website. But, it turns out that getting a cedar 1" X 10" X 8' board is harder than it sounds. No one in town carries that width. I settled for an 8" board and pieced a lot of parts together. That evening, Chryssa and I mounted her nest box on an east-facing tree trunk in her yard.

Chryssa's nest box gets a new tree and regulation height.

Once again, the owls called that night and the next. On the fourth night, Terry took his extension ladder over and we moved the nest box to a different tree and mounted it the suggested height of 10'-30'. And boom. The owls landed on the perch on the front, hopped all around and on the box, and seemingly went into it. We couldn't believe our luck (or strategic action)! We don't have a camera in this box, so the only livestreaming will be from the outside, but the trail cam is aimed at the box, so we hope to have lots of video clips if they do, in fact, nest in that box.

You know we're not above naming our yard owls, but I'll leave that up to our daughter and her two boys, Felix and Remy.

Whatever happens, we are optimistic this nest box will be the home to owlets, if not this year, then in future years. We'll keep you posted!

#19 Sail on, Little Sailors

We are both happy and sad that our owls have moved on. Happy, because they have succeeded in an urban environment full of danger. Sad, because we became attached to this wild, but gentle, family sharing our yard with us. We could not find them June 3 or today, June 4, 2020. I have scanned our cottonwood and our two maples extensively and haven’t located them. Sitting on the deck with a cup of coffee and looking for owls in the early June breeze is a sweet enterprise. 

To be sure, these owls are easy to miss among the extensive leaves of a large tree. And during the day, they sit still, only moving their heads a bit to look at what humans are up to. They are curious, but not especially interested. One young may sidle a few inches closer to its sibling. That’s about it. Birders find most birds by detecting movement or sounds. During the day, Western Screech-Owls don’t give you much to work with.

Onward little family. We hope to see you again. An upgraded nest box will be waiting next year, whether it’s Peach returning or one of the little ones ready to carry screech-owls into the future.

#18 Fledging in a Week or Less!

Dear Owlists,

As hard as it was to lose Lucky, we'll be losing the view or our two owlets from the nest box in a week or less, according to the Audubon article I just read. And given the behavior of Collister, in particular, I'd say he may not stay for another week. We just hope he doesn't jump before he's ready. Also, I don't mean to sound selfish. All of the cliches about being empty-nesters might begin to appear in this blog, however.

Some of our observations include a lot of wing flapping by both Filly and Collister. Their wing spans fill the nest box already. Fortunately they seem to take turns spreading their wings fully, so as to not crash into each other. Also, we believe it is Collister who has been halfway out of the nest box. He propped himself up with half of his body out the door yesterday and stayed their for quite awhile, much to our dismay. (See video.) Finally, Terry went outside and that seemed to scare him back in. During that time, though, Filly became quite agitated, apparently sensing something was up and flapped and stretched at one point, as well. It doesn't take a lot of anthropomorphism to surmise that "If little brother can do it, I can do it better." So...will they stick around another week? We truly hope so, so they have the best chance of surviving on their own. Apparently, they stick around the neighborhood for a few days (at least) after fledging, so our cameras will be permanently attached to our tripods, braving the elements at that point. (We got some hysterical video two years ago of our three owlets scratching in rhythm.)

We've been successfully live streaming now, so check out "Bird Talk With Terry Rich" on YouTube if you want to catch some of the live action. They are more active during the day and usually Peach is out of the box, so the babies are visible a lot more of the time. Also...the last week!!!

Coming soon: We've become aware of an ornithologist who studied screech-owls in Iowa over a hundred years ago. Her writing, her science, and her art are noteworthy and entertaining. Check out Althea R. Sherman.

#17 Sad Day

We are sad to say we've lost our #3 owlet late on May 12. It hatched only 8 hours or so after #2 and started out fine. But it tended to keep its head down more than its siblings. As a result, it started to fall behind in getting food. We named it "Lucky," after another local street, and with some hope that giving it a positive name would help turn him around. The young are very competitive when food is delivered, and any weakness leads to a downward spiral in that individual's health.

The female, Peach, only laid three eggs. The average is 5 and some lay up to 7. Clutch size is the result of many factors. One possible reason for a small clutch is inadequate nutrition. That could also be a factor in the failure for young to thrive. I think Lucky was born with a problem, but we’ll never know. We had become more attached to these little owls than we realized. It is a sad day for us today.

Filly and Collister are now growing rapidly, and we wish them the best! And they can be assured that their mom, Peach, is on the lookout!

#16 YouTube Happiness for the Owl Family

Dear Owl Friends,

Just when we were about to give up on live streaming on YouTube (and actually priced Vimeo) Terry got a response to his many appeals regarding our posts. They apologized! We're not sure we're completely in the clear, but if the last feed is any indication--we've been up for 21 hours nonstop. So, if you want to leave it running all day or all night, you just might be able to do so.

In other news, the owls all have names now. The mama is Peach, the papa is Blue, and the babies are #1 Filly, #2 Collister, and #3 Lucky. (All the names come from local street names.) Filly is the biggest and most vigorous. Collister is just a little bit smaller and rivals her pretty well. Lucky is much smaller, but is feisty and we think he'll be OK. Once we can see all three owlets at one time, I'll include their names. Right now, we're still having trouble distinguishing Filly from Collister because they are so similar at this point.

For a change, here's a link to a YouTube clip that I posted on my channel today. The first portion is both adult owls in real time and the second portion is in slow motion. https://youtu.be/_Mg2awUXxX8
Check it out.

And, here is a moment that had us all cheering. Lucky busted out of the pack, poked around the box, and then quickly snuggled back in for the warmth of his siblings. He isn't usually so adventuresome, so we're happy to see him showing some vigor and initiative.

Thanks for watching. Remember to add your email to the email bar at the top of the page and you'll be notified every time there's a blog.