You can't get much mellower or relaxing than Rabbits and Chipmunks, but somehow this foursome manages to bump noses and then panic ensues. The Chipmunks pretty much steal the show at the end - watch and have a chuckle!
Another story of owls rescued makes for a happy news story in Erie, PA. Two Eastern Screech Owlets, one a red-morph and the other gray were rescued after falling out of their nest in Erie, PA the other day. These are real cute ones just like our's last year. What is interesting is that here in central Florida our Screech Owl mother is sitting on four eggs that are not due to hatch until April 6th, while in northwest PA some one thousand miles further north where it is so much colder these owls hatched perhaps 3 or 4 weeks ago. With hatching of owls is all about local food supply. I am not familiar with the ecology of NW PA, but this must be a time of food availability even though it is still quite cold. The rescued owlets are in the capable hands of a wildlife rehabilitation facility - in this case the Tamarack Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Center.
Check out these two video clips from the local news:
The male Screech Owl is jumping into action bringing food to the female sitting on 4 eggs.
Mr. Screech Owl made a first and grand appearance in the nest box tonight bringing what looks like a large bug to his mate who is now not leaving the four eggs for more than a few minutes each day and only at dusk. It's a cold night and they have a tremendous investment in their four eggs and now is the time the male who has been standing by the nest box for the past 10 days to jump into action. Their interactive calls are simply amazing. There are few calls as stirring as theirs in the bird world. Enjoy and definitely watch until the 1:25 mark - you will be amazed by these little creatures!
Mockingbird Contrasted Against Developing Storm Clouds
Big storms moved through central Florida Sunday. This Mockingbird in the backyard was high on a Loquat Tree preparing to feast on ripe fruit, but seemed to be more interested in watching the ominous clouds roll by. Mockingbirds and other birds do not sing in advance of an approaching storm. They know what to do. The difficult lighting provided an interesting contrast of bird and sky making the Mockingbird look more like a shadow-figure animation. Shooting in perfect weather and light does not always convey all the mysteries of nature. A good birder should be able to ID birds in profile!
Interesting story out of Victoria BC. Apparently a Barred Owl(s) has taken up the habit of snatching the hats off of people in Beacon Hill Park. The owls have snatched at least three hats and attempted to pilfer more. They seem to take particular umbrage with joggers wearing wool caps or headphones. The Times Colonist has been covering this continuing story and fortunately the decision has been made to let the owls be owls thus far - it is a park for nature after-all. There was a similar story in Seattle of owls attacking joggers and stealing hats back in 2008 and a birding expert came up with one theory that young owls learning their trade were confusing fuzzy hats, ponytails and headphones as prey while honing their hunting skills. A quick search of Google images for "hat stealing owl" will show you just how many types of owl-themed stocking hats people make or sell, pretty amazing. Perhaps turn-about is fair play!
Male Cardinal singing the Bold Spring Call From the Highest Tree
Cardinals are often one of the last backyard birds to turn in for the night. You can often hear them chirping at the feeder right after the sun goes down and its almost too dark to see. This male Northern Cardinal was singing his heart out at sunset and I wanted to record his strong calls, one of my favorite of the backyard bird world. Ordinarily this would be poor lighting for video or film as the bird will obviously not be clearly seen. But here I was lucky to capture the bird in perfect profile with the sun now below the horizon giving a "shadow puppet" effect and perfectly showing the movement of its beak to form the amazing calls. Keep your camera handy every day in the backyard is an adventure.
Male Gray Eastern Screech Owl Hiding in Daytime near Nest Box
Last evening (March 19th) was the first time I spotted the male owl. Maybe I've been to hard on Mr Screech Owl while the female was laying four eggs in the nest box in front of the cameras this past week and then getting her own dinner in the evening. The gray male Screech Owl is so adept at hiding he may have been there for her all along. He can rest for now, but once the four eggs hatch he will no doubt jump into action just like last year when he was an amazing provider of lizards, small snakes, frogs, a few mice, giant Palmetto bugs and assorted other large insects. This year - one more mouth to feed.
Another unusual story of an owl rescue was in the news recently. A great horned owl found caught in a kite string in a public park in Grand Forks, ND on March 6th was rescued by police, firefighters and local bird experts. With obvious injury to one of its wings the owl it is undergoing rehabilitation at the Raptor Center at the Saint Paul campus of the University of Minnesota. Apparently the owl is a bit cranky and has a ways to go to full recovery and possible release back into the wild. The full story was in the Grand Forks Herald Newspaper.
A bit of a surprise today when it was revealed that the Red Morph Eastern Screech Owl nesting in our box had laid another egg - making four. The past two years she only laid three. It is going to be a wild scene in the nest box when they begin hatching the weekend of April 6th. Lets just say it is doubtful four heads will fit through the nest box entrance at once. The nest box camera is ready to go once the action picks up!
Female Red Morph Eastern Screech Owl in The Nest Box
Female Red Morph Eastern Screech Owl in The Nest Box
This is Her in Early May 2012 - Natural, Fierce and Free!
The same Red Morph Eastern Screech Owl Female is back in our nest box this season sitting on 3 eggs. She began staying almost 24 hours a day in the nest box early Friday when the third egg was delivered. We are giving her plenty of space in the backyard - not making direct eye contact at this point. She knows and tolerates us. In the coming weeks she'll become more relaxed around us in the backyard again. But, as you can see from her expression she is not one to put up with much nonsense. She is wild, fierce and free - one tough little creature. She is the only real and wild "Transformer Owl" on the web. She is an expert mother, raising 3 owlets the past two years and we expect 3 more in about 26 days. The male has not made an appearance at the nest box yet, that will change in the coming days.
Florida Eastern Screech Owl (Red Morph) Sitting on Three Eggs
The third and likely final egg was delivered Friday AM (3/15/13) and the mother has been sitting on it steadily except for a brief departure Friday evening. This is more typical behavior and interesting in that during the time she had two eggs in the nest she would leave for several hours each night. The male has remained a no-show in the nest box. After she calls a few times and leave the nest box at dusk they meet in the dense brush and perhaps he has food for her. It should not be long before he begins bringing food to the nest box. The incubation period is approximately 26 days and hatching should begin the weekend of April 6th it all goes well. The live YouTube test broadcast test of March 13th went well except for noisy audio. We will experiment further with live broadcasts and hopefully be able to broadcast live from the nest box when the action begins to pick up.
Test Video of Screech Owl Nest Box Showing Two Eggs Now
Conducted a live YouTube test broadcast from the nest box last night and it revealed two eggs as the mother left at dusk to hunt. However, last year her habit was to quickly return to the nest box within an hour and the male would deliver food. As the test broadcast illustrates she did not return to the eggs for at least two to three hours on a cool night. She was sitting hard on the eggs in the morning so perhaps chilling will not be a problem. She is after all an expert at this. We'll just have to wait and see if the male starts picking up his feeding activity as expected and the eggs remain viable. Perhaps food is a little scarcer this season. She should lay at least one more egg.
Tiny juvenile Saw-whet Owl animated .gifs making the rounds of the Web this week!
It will get bigger, but not much they are one of the smallest owls.
Original source: http://imgur.com/gallery/JtVZd
The short answer is no - there is no limit to how many cute baby owls the world can handle. Who can look away? The original source of these animated gifs is imgur.com. The story is this is a rescued owl handled by a wildlife rehabilitator. Not sure who made the animated .gifs, but the original video is on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpHrZpI47VI
However, I'm partial to the wild owls that breed in a nest box in our backyard. These are the cutest wild owlets - wild and free and not handled by humans:
These owlets set the bar for natural cuteness and comedy!
Our Eastern Screech Owls are back in the nest box, the first egg was lain in the early morning hours of March 11th. In 2012 the first egg was delivered on March 13th - that's pretty reliable. The last two seasons Mother Owl laid three egg each two days apart. Should be the same this year. Incubation takes about 26 days - then fledging is about 31 more days. The next 60 days are going to be pretty exciting. Stay tuned!
The Eurasian Collared-Dove is a Rare Visitor to the Backyard
The female Eastern Screech Owl continue to sit in the nest box waiting to start delivering her eggs. She sits in the nest box during the day and goes out at dusk to feed. The male is calling nearby. Eggs should be laid any day now. In the meantime, other visitors keep us entertained in the backyard such as this gorgeous Ring-Necked Dove.
Video from tonight, March 7th - Female Screech Owl is Readying the Nest for the Eggs
The same super-talented Screech Owl Couple from last year have returned to the nest box!
Game on! We've been expecting the return of the Eastern Screech Owls for several weeks and the female was in the nest box this evening arranging the wood chips to her liking. She and the male have likely been courting for some time and she will likely lay the first egg in the next day or two. She showed up on March 8th last year and March 7th this year. The next two months are going to be busy! We are very careful to not disturb them, pass near the nest box or make eye contact or noise nearby until she starts laying eggs. It is likely they are already committed to the nest box, but we don't want to disturb them until the eggs are laid and they start settling into a routine - but the nest box camera will be rolling in the days to come!
Video of Brown Anole Lizard Staking his Claim to a Woodpeckers Nest Box
Video of the same nest box being inspected by a Red-Bellied Woodpecker
There is just something inviting about bird nest boxes - squirrels, rats, snakes, lizards, bees and of course birds love them . The woodpecker box has already been checked out by a male woodpecker with the intention no doubt of nesting there later this spring. A Brown Anole has recently claimed squatters rights to the box and while possession may be nine tenths of the law I have a feeling that the woodpecker just may eat this lizard if it finds him in the nest box the next time he stops by. The nest boxes are choice real estate and always seem to be a focal point for activity.
We're looking forward to seeing little woodpeckers in there this spring.
6 1/2 Hours of Backyard Bird visits in 20 minutes!
I'm in the process of testing the suitability of a Bushnell 8MP Trophy Cam HD Trail Cam for use in Backyard Birding applications and will include results in future Blog posts. For now, here are some preliminary results using the Trail Cam to capture video of birds - and a few small furry creatures - that visited one of our small birdbaths during the course of a recent afternoon. Initial results are promising, but of course there are limitations. More to come - In the meantime, enjoy the video!
Following recent stories of owls striking cars and living to hunt again comes another amazing story of an owl, in this case what appears to be a diminutive Northern Saw-whet Owl, surviving a collision with a car and happily flying off. In this case, Lake County Montana deputies were travelling between Kalispell and Missoula when they heard a thud against the side of the car and turned around to investigate. They found the tiny owl stunned beside the road and held it while it recovered for a few minutes and flew away. The Saw-Whet Owl is similar in size to the Western Screech Owl. In the photos above, the camera flash distorts the colors of the head, but it would appear to be a Saw-Whet Owl with a sort of "open face" and a fair amount of white color. Reported in the Montana news on February 27th the event occurred last Saturday morning February 23rd.
