Great story out of eastern Pennsylvania of an Eastern Screech Owl that came down a families chimney and sat rather calmly in their fireplace. They called a bird enthusiast friend and the story had a happy ending!
Thursday (12/27) was a day I just wanted to avoid the crowds and take a drive, get some fresh air and see if we could find any birds. It was after lunch, not the best time, and our favorite remote ranch land area was looking like a bust so I just set about shooting some stock footage of a pair of Sandhill Cranes. Not every day can be an Eagle or Caracara day, but you just never know when luck will come your way. Lately, I've been lucky.
I was fortunate to be engulfed by a passing "Flight of Swallows" as I was focusing my attention on one of the Cranes. Several Red-Shouldered Hawks became excited and then Swallows surrounded us. I didn't notice untill I looked at the footage later, but you can see the Crane take notice of some disturbance developing in the atmosphere - the Crane looks up and then around and then there is a sudden onset of a Flight of Swallows much like the approach and passage of a storm. The expression on the Crane is priceless at 1080p. I panned to cover the swallows and by then the greatest concentration was right overhead. Hawks began swooping in to take a few swallows. Later one of the Hawks roosted right in front of us as the straggler Swallows fell in behind the main Flight. All in all it took about 10 minutes for the Flight to pass. What was most interesting was the reaction of the big birds from the Crane watching with curiosity to the top predator Hawks attacking the swallows much like sharks try and pick out fish from large schools in the ocean. Also got to spend some quality time with one of the Red Shouldered Hawks toward the end. The Flight was moving in mid-afternoon, most birds were swirling, but the Flight itself seemed to be making forward progress northward on the order of several miles an hour as we caught up with them further up the road about 30 minutes later. You just never know - carry your camera!
Red-Shouldered Hawk
Routine Sandhill Crane video leading up to the "Flight of Swallows"
While we wait for Eastern Screech Owl nesting season to heat up in late winter...daytime birding overall has been picking up in Florida. Here is a video of a chance encounter with Eagles and Crested Caracaras - always exciting to see and the common crow who tries to steal the show.
Male Painted Bunting observed on December 9th, 2012
Between December 14th and January 5th you can participate in the annual bird count. Information is on the Audubon web site. Even if you don't participate, winter is a good time for bird watching. Owls are starting to call more often as we get deeper into winter in Florida. Here is a photo of a Painted Bunting I took Sunday to get the bird watching juices flowing.
This gave me a chuckle this afternoon. Getting the nest boxes ready for owl season and trimming some branches etc this afternoon I noticed this Gecko who had claimed a nest box as his new home. Trust me - this is going to end badly! Nobody told him that little lizards are Screech Owls number one food in Florida. All the more reason for the owls to move in this winter - Dinner is Waiting!!
Little Lizard thinks he's going to make a home here - not!
We've been fortunate to see some nice examples of daytime birds of prey this fall(eagles and hawks -see below), but frankly they are not as exciting as owls of the night. Winter is coming and that's the time when Screech Owl activity starts to increase around central Florida. We've also seen some frisky squirrels the last few days and this is the time they start their second breeding cycle. Last season the squirrels used the Screech Owl nest box to deliver a litter before the Screech Owls needed it, but they basically fill up the entire box with sticks and leaves and make it unusable. After we cleaned it out in preparation for the owls the squirrels still used is as a flop house (more on that in another post) and generally made it clear we had to move the owl box to, not the best location, but a safe location. The owls I think appreciated the safety. Around here there are simply too many dangerous predators for nests in trees that are marginal at best such as in the crevices of Palmetto Trees.
If you are going to try and attract Screech Owls time is running out to put up a box so that they can find it and begin to make it part of the route and consider using it as a nest box in late winter. Our owls have laid eggs as early as late January and as late as mid March - the early nesting was a cold winter and the late a warm winter. To build your own nest or buy - There are plenty of plans out there like this one from Cornell. We bought and love the Stovall 6H Screech Owl Box it has a unique feature of a perch about six inches or so below the hole that makes it easy for the owls to perch and generally interact with the owlets with less effort. And an extra layer of wood around the entrance that again makes it easier for owls to sit and harder for squirrels to chew it up. If you do decide to build your own use real cedar wood and good hardware. I made one out of pine by exactly duplicating the Stovall box and it was taken over by Africanized Bees - cedar repels insects. By the time you consider buying cedar and quality hardware you may come to the conclusion its hard to beat the Stovall. From an earlier bog I noted that a perch for the owls in the yard near the nest box is also a good idea. A nest box would make a great Christmas gift for the nature lover. Good luck this year!
Female Screech Owl Keeps in Touch With Male and Owlets in the Nest Box
In the last post about Screech Owl camouflage I noted how the male and female stand guard over the nest box during the day by trying to blend in with their surroundings and taking extreme measures to hide when danger was near. Another interesting observation related to this behavior was the way they communicate during the day. In the clip above you will note the female making continuous low volume - high frequency - calls to her mate and the owlets in the nearby nest box. You can see her inhaling and exhaling via the abdomen muscles to make these calls without any change in expression or movement of face and head. If you listen carefully you can hear the male Screech Owl occasionally reply to her calls as well as the Owlets making very faint calls. This was observed in the days after the mother owl moved out of the nest box during the day. Due to the unusual location of the nest box the parents could not be very close like they might be if it was in a tree. In this case, the stealthy communication is probably a way for all to keep in touch and is clearly led by the female owl. What is interesting is how far and well these calls travel. Just another new example of the talents of these amazing little owls.
Note: We were fortunate enough to make some fantastic observations and videos of unique Screech Owl behavior in our backyard during the nesting season this past May. These dynamic little owls are a lot more complex and intelligent than any literature I've read gives them credit for. This Blog will be edited with more details and analysis over time.
We hoped the Screech Owls were going to come back this spring after success in 2011. However, in late December 2011 the nest box was taken over by squirrels and stuffed with twigs. After cleaning it out, wood rats tried to move in, and then the squirrels started coming back - that's a story for another blog post. It was clear the location up on a 12 foot high 2x4 on our back fence in the woods wasn't going to work - it was a jungle back there and there was no chance of a successful season with the box in that location. As a last resort, I put the nest box only about 8 feet off the ground at the gable end on an aluminum outbuilding in January, installed the nest cam and we waited. Not the best location, but a safe location that no critters could get to.
The grey male and red female could be heard, and occasionally seen, courting in early March. They were first seen inside the box on March 10th and the first egg was laid on March 13th - success! Everything went smoothly with lots of activity inside the box and frequent nighttime feeding by the male Screech Owl. The female only left the nest briefly at night - a routine had set in.
Screech Owl Nest Box Location and usual location of the parents.
A video showing the parents on the job in the positions in the photo above
April 18th - I walked around the back of the "shed" and came face-to-face with a big pair of yellow eyes about 6 feet off the ground right in front of me at eye level - stopped - what was that? - and then it was gone. I approached slowly and it was the male grey Screech Owl. He would not look at me, I backed off and he squinted, but didn't move. I left him alone, but came back each evening and walked slowly along the fence line looking in the dense oaks and pepper trees and found him there each day in various different positions and started to film him at a distance with a telephoto lens He had probably been there since March waiting to start hunting and feeding as soon as it got dark,
Male Screech Owl Hiding Near Nest box
Transformer Owl Part One - The "Predator" Effect.
Looking at the tapes from May first I saw the cloaking behavior from the male owl similar to when we first met, although not as extreme as I saw that first night. He was apparently reacting to me watering the plants and moving closer with the hose as the video ran on a tripod. This is shape-shifting at its best. He never really "warmed" up to us over two months and never once faced us with both eyes fully open.
Male Easter Grey Screech Owl - before and after
Video of Transformation
Transformer Owl Part Two - Extreme Danger
The red female Screech Owl moved out of the nest box for the most part on May 2nd as it was getting hot and crowded in there. She set up her post to guard the nest in a Palmetto Tree near and above the nest where she could come to the rescue during the day if needed. She did an amazing job of finding spots with red color that she could blend in with. But she was in the open in the daytime - a very dangerous position for her. Here she spots a large Red Shouldered Hawk on the house rooftop - she is at 12 feet and looking up - the reaction here is fierce and immediate. In the daytime the big hawk could have her for lunch in a heartbeat The Hawks rule the daytime skies - the Owls the night!
Extreme Rapid Transformation - Danger!
Extreme Rapid Transformation - Danger!
Red Shouldered Hawks in the backyard use the same perches in the daytime that the owls use at night!
Transformer Owl Part Three - Mild Danger - Amazing Slow Transform
The red female had found the perfect spot to sit in the daytime on the cut end of an old reddish brown Palmetto Branch next to another red/brown branch. Here a large Raccoon rummaging around in the daytime is scared and runs through a pile of old wood and brush and climbs the fence right below the owl. She is initially on high alert by the noise and then assess the situation and slowly transforms into a branch as the Raccoon walks by on the fence just below. Since the Raccoon was so close a slow but complete transform seemed to be her choice to avoid attracting attention.
On Center Stage - The Great Transformer Screech Owl
Transformer Screech Owl - Before and After
Screech Owls are not safe in trees with these guys around.
Transformer Owl Part Four - Minor Threat
Later the same Raccoon is walking along the fence below the red female and you can see by her reaction she is on guard and does a slight transformer move as she does not sense significant danger - but she is watchful and ready.
Not Too Worried
Transformer Owl Part Five - Meh - You are not worthy! Here I'm coming to get the camera after running 14 minutes of video and as I come around the shed into view the female is initially mildly concerned, but when she sees it's me she give a rather indifferent expression and goes back to relaxing. Their situational awareness and ability to parse threats and respond to many different scenarios is amazing!
Video from May 6 in the late afternoon five days before fledging. Its hot and crowded in the nest box and the owlets are taking a nap. The mother has been spending her time outside the nest box for several days now. The ever curious and resourceful Owlbert, the second eldest has found a unique way to get some space and stay a bit cooler by hanging upside down from the perching bar over the other two owlets . A bat imitation - Brilliant!
I wouldn't normally resort to this kind of shameless commercial plug, but the price just dropped significantly on the camera I use. This is a good deal on a great point-and-shoot Canon SX40 bridge camera. I paid significantly more for mine from Amazon and it took all the pictures and HD videos you will see on this page. Its perfect if you are thinking about getting more involved in photographing or filming birds and wildlife as a hobby without going all-in on a professional outfit you'll be reluctant to damage or lug around the wilds. At the price point of $339 its a deal! Do your research. If it goes back up in price wait it out. This post goes into more detail. I will never recommend a product I don't own, use, and enjoy! Another benefit of Canon point and shoots is that there is a whole community of developers making enhancements to the software to make them do all the things you want like HDR, RAW and time lapse and motion detection photography. Its called CHDK and its amazing. More on this software enhancement in a future post.
Example of Screech Owl Taken With Canon SX40 HS (note:resolution is reduced so it can be uploaded to web)
The character, personality and talent of the Screech Owl never ceases to amaze as we go through the videos from the 2012 season. Thanks to the kind folks at Cute Overload for bringing attention to the original Baby Owl Eye Pops Out video. For your viewing entertainment is the second episode of the middle owlet, a male grey eastern Screech Owl, trying to fit his head through the nest box hole occupied by his older sister - A red morph eastern Screech Owl. Here he has figured out that he can more easily get out at the bottom of the nest hole under his sisters chin. The third owlet was considerably slower on the learner curve than these two and was in the bottom of the nest box kicking the wood chips around at this time - I'll have to upload some video of that some day. This means that the slower smaller third owl will also not get the first food delivered to the box in the evening. These videos are a bit later than the first Baby Owl Eye Pops Out episode and they are expecting to be fed soon. Whoever dominates the nest entrance gets the most food!
The environmental awareness and natural curiosity of the middle owl was on display from the early days in the nest box. We'll upload other videos in the coming weeks showing this fellow in action. Cute Overload called him Owlbert and I like that - he seems a bit of a free spirit and probably a bit of trouble - Owlbert!! what are you up to now?
The sounds of late summer night around the campfire. Screech Owls are typically scarcely seen and pretty much silent since leaving the nesting site in May. They tend to begin to make some noise again in late summer. Dark - the realm of the Screech Owl. It's starting to get a little nicer out at night now and fall is coming - get outside and enjoy a fire and the noises of the night!
As I continue to go over the video from this seasons nest box camera I come up with jewels like this. The largest owlet was barely a week old on April 17th when it attempted to swallow an entire lizard that the parents dropped into the nest box. By this time both parents would immediately start hunting after dark dropping large amounts of food, mostly lizards, into the nest box. There intent is to come back shortly and tear up the lizards for the owlets, but one couldn't wait even though it could barely see. There seemed to be an inexhaustible supply of lizards this spring partly due no doubt to the fact that it was a very warm winter. It also speaks to the lack of pesticides in the backyard - I know that's a hard call for some, but Palmetto Bugs and Mole Crickets and such along with lizards make up a large portion of their diet at nesting time. Note that the mother Screech Owl comes to the rescue of the little guy near the end to help him with the lizard.
You can enhance the chances of attracting Screech Owls to your nest box by using bird feeding stations in your yard that make good perches for the owls and other creatures. We use two Gardman USA Wild Bird
Feeding Kits that are very good as a bird feeding station and absolutely outstanding as sturdy perches. The only weakness is the pole that comes with the kit is in 4 sections and its not particularly strong or long-lasting, but we use 7ft pieces of copper plumbing pipe that makes the total kit quite strong and attractive. Its the hardware that comes with the kit that is the best part. It has held up quite well. Its sometimes hard to find this exact kit but for now its still available through Amazon. Gardman makes another slightly different Deluxe feeding station that is probably just as good.
We had a serious problem with squirrels climbing all over the feeders, but found the Woodlink 18" Squirrel Baffle did the trick in stopping them from ruining bird watching. The YouTube video below is a test we did a few months ago. This type of baffle could also be used to keep squirrels out of your Screech Owl box is it was on a sturdy galvanized metal pole. You may be able to find one for use on 4x4 wood posts, but if it doesn't swivel like this one the squirrels may well defeat it.
These are the exact products used in the video above. We don't link unless we own and use it!!
Flyways to perch and nestbox
The second Gardman unit is used as a perch just for the owl box and creates a safe flyway pattern between heavy brush cover and the nest box, making the box more attractive to the owls as well as serving as a great hunting perch at night. It is very common to see them sitting there and catching large bugs and lizards in the backyard grass which is pesticide free. It is also where they would meet during mating season and was no doubt a plus in selling the "house" to the female screech owl. Its all about neighborhood, neighborhood neighborhood.
Red Shouldered Hawk
Of course the twin perches will be generally attractive to all birds. Its always a rush to see a majestic Red-Shouldered Hawk stop by and perch in the yard. Occasionally they will take out a Dove sitting on the perch or a snake from the yard. Hawks by day and owls by night!
Dragonfly
The perch is often used as a hunting perch in the daytime by insects such as large wasps and dragonflies. In this picture you can see the owl box in the distance in the lower right. Dragonflies eat an amazing amount of insects alleviating the need for heavy pesticide use.
Dragonfly
Dragonflies use the highest tip for a daytime hunting perch. Perches will attract more birds and are especially attractive to Screech Owls.
Screech Owls in our suburban neighborhood have a tough life that typically goes unseen by humans. Their biggest challenge is to find a good nesting site each winter - habitat loss of old growth trees and dead trees most likely to have suitable nesting cavities is a big factor in Screech Owl decline in some areas. But finding a suitable nesting cavity is just the start of a perilous journey to reproduce. There is competition and danger! A nesting cavity in a tree is easily accessible by a wide variety of other creatures.The following pictures were taken in our backyard in the past year. These first five want to eat the eggs and/or owlets:
Florida Corn or Red Rat Snake
Invasive Monitor Lizard
Red Shouldered Hawk
Rats in the Nest Box!!
Raccoons
Rats also want the nest box for themselves, these are not big-city rats. They live in trees, especially Palmetto Trees and waterways everywhere - you just never see them at night. They suffer about a 90% mortality rate each year and they desperately want a place to hide in the daytime and an unoccupied nestbox is perfect. They can displace the owls or eat the eggs or small owlets in an unguarded moment - not to mention they make a mess of the box when they move in. The irony is that the beautiful and docile constrictor the Red "Rat" snake is often killed by homeowners when seen - think about that if you don't like rats - this 4-5 foot rat snake looks very well-fed. Large predatory lizards and Raccoons like to hang out in trees, and I haven't include pictures of cats either feral or pets without bells on their collars. Big hawks like this Red-Shouldered variety hang out in the same trees and the smaller Kestrels compete for the same nesting sites - and at night the great horned owl is a threat to eat its smaller brethren. Then there are the Africanized Bees and Wasps - and the most dreaded of all - the squirrels - they want the nest box. Important tip - If you make your own nest box - don't make it out of white pine from the home store - insects love it - makes great bee hives as bees need a place to live to! Either buy a good cedar wood nest box or make your own nest box out of cedar. Cedar contains a natural insect repellent and looks great as it ages. I have never seen bugs in our Stovall Owl box in two years that weren't brought in by the owls. "Wood Screech Owl Nest Box" (Google Affiliate Ad)
The Dreaded Squirrel
Homemade Pine Nest Box - Africanized Bees Love it!
All things considered one wonders how many Screech Owls are unsuccessful at claiming and defended one of the scarce natural sites. Many owls probably end up using less than desirable nesting sites. However, there is more to it than just putting out a nest box. One of the biggest challenges is properly locating ones nest box - each site is somewhat unique - there is no set answer. Perfect is not usually attainable, but good enough often is. More on the challenges we faced, including dealing with squirrels, the arch nemesis of owl nest boxing in Part #3.
This signature line from this blog is from the lead sentence of an extended meditation on the sounds of Screech Owls in Thoreau's Walden.. Thoreau's take on the Screech Owl's calls was decidedly melancholy. He spent a lot of time in the woods with them, but he didn't have the advantage of cameras and microphones inside the nest box! I've been remiss in presenting at least a few samples of the vocalizations of the Screech Owl parents. They produce an amazing diversity of calls with a wide range of nuance. Far from being melancholy - Two quick samples:
This is a recording from March 12th of the male Screech Owl attracting the female to our (his) nest box that he has claimed and defended. He does a great horse imitation in addition to the traditional strong "trilling" - who could resist. The first egg was laid the next night.
Mrs. Screech Owl was in an unusually vocal mood on April 23rd - the 3 baby owlets can be heard weakly chirping. They were still quite small and being shielded by the mother. She went on for quite a time this night, perhaps imprinting her calls on the baby owlets.
It will take quite awhile to go through all the digital photo and video documentation of the 2012 Screech Owls. Thought I'd share some cute owl videos for now. Backyard birding and photographing and videoing them go hand in hand. Having taken up photography again as a hobby after many years the owls make the perfect subject. Owls are unique in that they are quite evocative and you get to know them as individuals and realize they are each unique. I've found that since my last serious foray into photography technology has evolved to where "point and shoots" and "bridge" cameras can rival much more expensive cameras and dedicated video equipment. This video was shot with a Canon SX40 HS 12MP 35X Optical Zoom Digital Camera superzoom bridge camera which is about the size of an SLR, but has an all in one 24-840mm lens. This is an amazing camera if your expectations are realistic and you understand the limitations of auto focus and stabilization. Price is around $400.
Shorter Version
A little more drama in the extended cut!
Red morph and grey owlets - two obviously distinct personalities!
These HD videos were taken on May 8th before dusk at the full zoom 840mm setting. If you try and get too close to the nest box they get nervous and retreat or act unnatural - at a reasonable distance they find you fascinating to observe - always an ego boost, and act more natural. This requires zoom power. The area in the video is roughly 6 inches by 8 inches - in the original 1920x1080 it looks amazing on a large HD TV. This video is reduced in size for uploading to the web. However, you must use a solid tripod to get these kind of results. I'm impressed with the low-light capability of this camera and the sound quality from two microphones on the front to provide stereo audio. The bird calling in the distance is very clear. My point and shoot Cannon SX230HS that most of the photos and video documentation was taken with is almost as good, but the zoom only goes to 14X, or about 400mm. Cannon has just come out with the SX260HS with 20x zoom capability at about the same price point.
Many people complain that the pictures taken with these super-zoom cameras are not as clear as expected - the reality is that no amount of image stabilization or auto-focusing is going to completely overcome handshake and hunting for a subject at high zoom levels. More on amateur photo/video in your backyard in future blogs.
Having made bird feeding and watching a hobby, a suggestion to check out other bird houses while shopping online lead to the purchase of a Stovall Screech Owl nest box. We'd occasionally seen larger owls around the neighborhood at night and gave this a try. The nest box was filled with wood chips included in the package and put up on a 12 foot long 2x4 attached to a post on our backyard fence in early December 2010. As near as I could tell this was less than ideal, but as good as it was going to get. On February 27th, 2011 we noticed something looking out of the nest box and in fact, a Screech Owl had taken up residence.
Apparently we were lucky to have owls so soon. We did not have a camera in the nest box so our involvement consisted of watching the owl off and on during the days. We were not really that tuned in to the owls lives, nor aware of their progress in the reproductive cycle. I ordered a nest camera in April, by then we could see feeding activity around dusk. I realizing there was no way to put it inside at this late stage, so I set it up outside very close to the box. These videos were collected on that first night:
Nightime Feeding Videos from 2011 Season
We were lucky -the next day they were gone! I now know that this night of April 24th, 2011 was the final feeding frenzy at fledging just as we saw this year on May 10th. We were hooked - things were not so easy for 2012, there were a lot of trials and tribulations that I will share in the coming weeks.
it has a unique feature of a perch about six inches or so below the hole that makes it easy for the owls to perch and generally interact with the owlets with less effort. And an extra layer of wood around the entrance that again makes it easier for owls to sit and harder for squirrels to chew it up. If you do decide to build your own use real cedar wood and good hardware. I made one out of pine by exactly duplicating the Stovall box and it was taken over by Africanized Bees - cedar repels insects. By the time you consider buying cedar and quality hardware you may come to the conclusion its hard to beat the Stovall. From an earlier bog I noted that a perch for the owls in the yard near the nest box is also a good idea. A nest box would make a great Christmas gift for the nature lover. Good luck this year!
