December 30, 2015

Owl has been, for the most part, sleeping in the box during the day and out at night. 

December 23. 2015

No owl today.

December 22, 2015

In box all day yesterday.  Left during night.
In hole at 7AM getting ready to sleep the day away.

December 20, 2015

Owl in box all day.

December 18, 2015

Potential ringtail at 1AM.

December 5. 2015

No sightings.

December 3, 2015

No owl sited, but we have the camera paired to a computer now. 
Note the feathers in the box probably due to the owl eating a bird for a meal while in the box.

December 1, 2015

Owl in box during day.

November 29, 2015

Owl has not been observed (manually) in the box for a few days.
Today, 42F and drizzle, the owl is back in.

November 25, 2015

11:00A: Switch camera on and.....  Owl!

April 25, 2015: Tragedy in the Owl Box 2015

Looked in on the box this morning and were surprised to see the mother owl gone.  I suspected something had gone wrong and checked the image history for the night.  Sure enough, the 2015 season ended last night due to a Ringtailed Cat breech into the box. 

It's sad, but as they say, "Mother Nature can be a bitch."  My experience tells me that a mother Eastern Screech Owl just does not defend their nest against a predator.  In the seven years we have have been monitoring the nesting box this is the second Ringtailed Cat episode.  In addition to that, there were two seasons that we were forced to get a ladder and interact with the nesting box.  The mother and father owl just sat watching and never mounted a defense in all four instances.

The pictures below tell the story for this year's end.  The Ringtail enters at 1:39:58AM and leaves at 1:59:47AM without being challenged by the adult owls.

April 24, 2015

All still normal.  Mother owl does a batman impersonation.

April 22, 2015

Pic of the three eggs.  We estimate a hatch date of May 7.

April 21, 2015

This morning we counted three eggs in the box.  The female is sitting on the eggs day and night.  The male is in a nearby tree and make occasional food drops at night.

All appears normal.

April 20, 2015

Back from the Sea of Cortez.

This morning the owl was sleeping in the box.  Stay tuned for the egg count.

April 7, 2015 (First Egg Spotting)

One Egg!!!

(Sea of Cortez)

April 4, 2015

Owl in box at 3PM. 65F and cloudy. 

April 5, 2015

Owl spent all day yesterday in the box 'arranging leaves'.
Left for the night.
Was back in the box this morning.

April 4, 2015

Owl in box at 3PM. 65F and cloudy. 

March 16, 2015

Heard owls last night.  Turned on camera to discover one sitting in the hole; ~7AM.

February 15, 2015

No owl box activity to report for this season.