Florida Screech Owl CAM April 30th - Live From the Owl Nest Box!

Live tonight -- watch them grow before your eyes. Seem to be a few days ahead of fledging schedule - may be due to an abundance of high protein little lizards!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WXjQ0fS_rg

Florida Screech Owl CAM April 29th - Live From the Owl Nest Box!

Feeding action is getting intense in the early evening now that the 3 owlets are growing rapidly

The eldest Screech Owlet has grown amazingly fast in two days and is now perching beside its mother. The second eldest will likely be perching by tonight - April 30th. The youngest is kind of a goofball spending its time flapping its wings and kicked up wood chips all over its sibling. The broadcast is live every night and then an archive of the activity is posted automatically to YouTube a few hours later. Our goal is to have an extensive documentation of the owlets development. Enjoy!

Florida Screech Owl CAM April 28th - Live From the Owl Nest Box!

Florida Screech Owls Live in the Nest Box Tonight!  They look like burrowing owls in the nest box before dark - they are restless and hungry!!!

Burrowing Owl Family with 5 Owlets

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCYcORF2tew

Great video of a Burrowing Owl family with five owlets. There must be a lot of food in this field!

Florida Screech Owl CAM April 27th - Live From the Owl Nest Box!

Live Screech Owl CAM every night. Action increases nightly as the three owlets grow fast and need lots of food!

Mourning Dove Stands Up to Red-Bellied Woodpecker at Feeder

Mourning Dove and Red-Bellied Woodpecker

Dove stands up to a male Woodpecker - the King of the Bird Feeder! 

Here is a Mourning Dove who wont give way to a male Red-Bellied Woodpecker accustomed to having his space. The Dove is peace-loving bird,  but she was there first!
More HD videos every week. Please Subscribe at: 
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Florida Screech Owl CAM April 26th - Live From the Owl Nest Box!

Florida Screech Owl CAM April 26th - Live From the Owl Nest Box!

The eldest grew quite a bit in one day. They are becoming more active and aware.

Live Screech Owls Tonight!

Watch "Florida Screech Owl CAM April 25th - Live From the Owl Nest Box!" on YouTube

Florida Screech Owl CAM April 22nd - Live From the Owl Nest Box!

Archive of  dusk to dawn action inside the Screech Owl Nest Box Camera

Male Northern Cardinal and Male Red-Bellied Woodpecker Pay a Visit

Male Northern Cardinal and Red-Bellied Woodpecker

Cardinal with the classic "feeder chirp" followed by a Male Red-Bellied Woodpecker paid a morning visit to the feeder Sunday. Two of my favorite backyard birds! 

Celebrate Earth Day - Simple Thoughts on Nature and the Backyard Environment

What better way to celebrate Earth Day than to start in your own backyard. The Earth's creatures have simple needs, clean water, food and shelter - best if its dense vegetation with an open area nearby. Even in urban or built up areas creatures look for little oasis's of habitat that can fill their basic needs. All of these creatures and many more live in the backyard and can live there in balance. The insects are a fundamental building block of this ecosystem. The number one way to make your backyard an empty place is to use pesticides  indiscriminately on the grass, trees and bushes - eliminating or poisoning nature's food supply. A reasonable compromise for Earth Day is to use spot bait to treat troublesome Fire Ants and put a chemical barrier right along the homes foundation for nuisance pests and termites and leave the rest of the backyard to nature. There are also options for safer pesticides.  Our Screech Owls eat mole crickets, palmetto bugs, large spiders, any fashion of beetles and their larvae, lizards and snakes among other things that live beyond the house in the backyard.

Painted Bunting

Florida Screech Owl-CAM April 21st - Live From the Owl Nest Box Tonight!

Florida Screech Owl-CAM April 20th 

Last Nights Video (4/20) - Many Lizards and Bugs Eaten!

Tonight's 4/21 Live Broadcast Will begin around 7PM!   Use this Link.

http://www.youtube.com/user/MyBackyardBirding/featured?v=OnUoIlUbhyM

Recorded live April 20th! - Peak action starts around 8 PM US ET each night. Live stream from the nest box this evening. Last night there were three hungry Screech Owlets able to eat whole lizards and bugs with just a little assistance from the parents. Their eyes should open completely any day now as they turn from little fur-balls into amazingly cute individuals. There is still one egg that is clearly not viable and the mother will either eat or remove it --- hopefully soon.  A lot of feeding action by parents between 8 and 10 pm and then off and on  through the night. Subscribe at: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=mybackyardbirding to keep up on the latest updates and special features before they leave the nest box in early May.

OWL-CAM - Screech Owls Live Tonight - April 20th

Last Nights Action - April 19th

Who knows what you'll see or hear. The action increases daily as the 3 owlets grow fast. A fourth egg was still in the nest box this morning. It is not viable. The female will have to dispose of it soon.

The URL for tonights live broadcast will be : http://www.youtube.com/user/MyBackyardBirding/featured?v=yiupriPJZOk

Florida Screech Owl CAM - Live From the Nest Box! April 18th

Live Every Night - They are growing fast!

The Screech Owlets are growing fast - more action every night between 8 and 10 PM especially. The live URL changes but go to the Backyard Birding...and Beyond YouTube Channel and you'll see the link to the days live feed.  Subscribe at: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=mybackyardbirding to keep up on the latest updates and special features before they leave the nest box in early May.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_O9CbqWFKU

Screech Owl Parents with Three Owlets - A Portrait of Dedication!

Four More Weeks To Go!

You can read their eyes - caring for three growing owlets from dusk to dawn and rest in the daytime. She has almost 4 more weeks in the box. From their positions they can see each other and communicate through the day with soft calls. More HD videos every week. Please Subscribe at:  http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=MyBackyardBirding

Live From the Screech Owl Nest Box - Owl CAM April 14th

Action is fastest between 8 and 10 PM US ET

The long live broadcasts are saved to YouTube after complete in the mornings. You can review the whole nights action.  If the video doesn't start or give an error the first time... hitting reload should do it.

Live From the Screech Owl Nest Box - Owl CAM April 13th

Feeding Activity Inside the Box will Increase with each day

Three of the 4 eggs have hatched in the past week and they are growing rapidly. The fourth egg is clearly not viable - as suspect it was just too cold when it was left along. It will be interesting to see when the mother owl eats or removes it. We will try and broadcast live each night. The full session will be saved to YouTube where it can be watched later and you can browse through it for the most interesting parts. 

Pair of Crested Caracara in Florida

A Mating Pair of Crested Caracara in central Florida

Had the good fortune to capture a pair of the rare Crested Caracara on video on a remote route I like to take in interior central Florida. These are of the falcon family and have a most unusual look to them. They have adapted to live almost entirely on roadkill along remote ranch land roads in interior Florida south of Orlando. Eagles have also made good use of roadkill in these areas and often the Caracara fight off the vultures for "first helpings" of fresh roadkill. These are large and impressive looking falcons...especially in flight. I was fortunate to be fairly close to these two without them becoming aware. They rarely will let you approach very close in a vehicle. More on Caracara stalking strategies in a future blog.

More information is from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. 

Male Screech Owl Guards the Nest Box

The Male Screech Owl Has Been Sitting near this Spot all Day Every Day Since March 19th

The Male Sits About 2 Feet Higher than the Nest Box in a Nearby Tree.

This video shows the males location and a sweep to the nest box and back all in one cut. He is sitting about two feet higher than the box in the nearby tree. While the female sits on 4 eggs basically 24 hours a day for over three weeks now the male has sat in the same spot well concealed in a nearby tree guarding over the nest box for the same time ready to defend if need be and bring food at dusk. Eggs are due to start hatching any day.

Red Shouldered Hawk Chased Out of Backyard By a Mockingbird

Young Red Shouldered Hawk Intimidated By A Mockingbird

I was treated to a rare sight the morning of March 28th when a young Red Shouldered Hawk was perched in the Chinese Tallow Tree overlooking the backyard looking to snag a bird for breakfast.  A Mockingbird who along with the Blue Jays act as the security guards of the backyard quickly spotted the inexperienced young hawk out in the open and proceeded to attack it and chase it off. This is common behavior, but not easy to catch on video. Had to act fast and shoot through the window. A raptor at rest is at a distinct disadvantage when attacked in the roosting position or even in the air, in this case the fast and nimble Mockingbird is safe when on the offensive and in close quarters. Hawks take unsuspecting prey such as Mourning Doves  where there is an open area and they have a chance to build up speed. Below are two photos of mature hawks that frequent the backyard. Blue Jays will often do a pretty good imitation of a hawk call and can be particularly nasty in small groups. 

The same fate can befall the male screech owl who is now hiding near the nest box in the daytime and going to great lengths to avoid detection least he be mobbed by the backyard guardians! Adventure is as near as the backyard!

Mature Red Shouldered Hawks Seen In the Backyard

Always a Thrill to see a Red Shouldered Hawk Take Flight!