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.