I just remembered to check the Owl Cam.

WOW! They have sure grown! When I first checked tonight, there were three inside the box. But then they moved outside.

Checking the original website page ( Mel & Sydney ), you can see all three camera views. They're flying around the yard now.



I snagged several pictures...

I've been watching the OwlCam the past couple of weeks as the owletts started to go out and fly around. Last night was the first night only 3 stayed in the box and this was the first night all 'flew the coop' so early in the evening. Not much time left before they are all out on their own.

Gotta say thanks to wagga for posting the link. It's been a lot of fun to watch them grow and take flight. At one point the parents were bringing and average of 20 rodents/munchies per night to feed them. That's about 140 per week. Not counting what the parents ate for themselves. Have to think that part of Oceanside has a minimal problem with rodents/small critters.

I also posted a link to the eagle cam . An east coast friend sent me this sad link. Father eagle is apparently feeding the kids, though.

Sorry to hear about the eagle hit by the landing aircraft. I hope the father can keep them going.

I got the following from wazzu:

Pretty funny! Here's the picture:

Here's a shot from inside the box this morning. All resting for the day:

When the video is playing, with the sound turned on, my cats display a professional interest. Dinner! Yeah, right!

I met a bird person yesterday when I took a Mockingbird baby in for rehab. She had just rescued a Cooper's Hawk and a young Barn Owl fledgling. She took the Barn Owl out for me to see.......an absolutely beautiful bird.

For those that might be interested, the 6 owlettes have left the box for good more than a week a go. The parents, Mel & Syd, are making a good effort to start the next clutch. (I had no clue owls could be so 'affectionate' with each other. )

Syd, has been staying in the box during the day which indicates she is getting ready to lay eggs.

A double header? Cool! Thanks for bringing it back to our attention.

...so, are those charcoal-looking chunks in the box owl pellets?


(Live cam is at the top of this page, or page 1)

Yes, those are owl pellets or horks. Owls can swallow a mouse whole and then horks up the fur & bones.

Some schools use the pellets/horks for science projects. The kids dissect the pellet and try to reassemble the bones. I think I would have preferred a owl pellet over the frog dissection that I had to do.

Very interesting! ...are you sure "hork" is a scientific term?

I tried it in Google, and didn't come up with much. But in Google, after typing "owl pellets" Google adds "for sale" as a suggested option. Amazing again!

I learned the term 'hork' from the Mel & Syd message board and explored other owl message boards and it is a common term. It was a new word for me, as I was taught owl pellet.

I knew of the composition of owl pellets from high school biology, but being able to purchase owl pellets is new to me. When I first saw a ad for owl pellets, the first thought was 'how are the pellets collected?'. How do you write up a job description for collecting and selling owl pellets? What is the job title?

Forgive me for my lack of skills for posting videos. I hope you all can see this video by copying a pasting this link or hopefully you'll be able to click on the link in this post. This is a great video of a cat and an owl playing. Enjoy.

http://wimp.com/catowl/

So where's the beautiful pea-green boat? And the runcible spoon?

  The Owl and the Pussy-Cat

Interesting about that "runcible spoon". According to the web page above:
So... he made it up! Interesting.

I love The Owl and Pussy Cat story. I've never heard of this bedtime story before. I like the illustrations of the owl and pussy cat too. Thanks.

Bump. I see the owls are at it again! What fun to watch.

Bump...first egg was laid today. This is the 3rd set of "kids" for this happy couple. The egg should hatch around 30 days from today.