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.
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