Look who I spotted!

Yesterday was SO BEAUTIFUL! Like a glimpse of spring. I was venturing out to the Meadow when I looked up and...OH MY GOODNESS, WOW! So naturally, I ran (literally) back to the house for my camera. Later, James got to see our eastern screech owl, too. Wonderful to see him/her again! (Plus, we spotted our very first robin of the season yesterday, too.)

Get outta here!

Peyton, our seventh-grade neighbor, dropped by yesterday when he saw me and James in the Meadow. I was taking photos of caterpillars and an odd mealybug that I'd spotted on a silverleaf nightshade (a future post). Peyton shared about a camping experience he'd had with friends in his back yard recently and mentioned a "tree" that grew there. James wanted to find out what kind it was so the two set off to see it. I stayed behind.

Next thing, I know, someone's pounding at our front door! Oh, my, had James gotten hurt??! I rushed to the door and threw it open.

"MISS SHERYL, MISS SHERYL, GET YOUR CAMERA!" Peyton exclaimed, breathless and obviously very excited. "THERE'S AN OWL IN OUR BACK YARD!"

"OKAY!!" 

With camera in hand, I walked fast (hey, I've been a little sick so I wasn't up for running) to Peyton's back yard. Sure enough, there sat a great horned owl (Bubo virginianus) atop a utility pole! Mad bluejays were squawking in trees and flying at the big bird. That's what had initially caught James' attention. Such commotion (a bird behavior called "mobbing") usually indicates that a snake's around. This time, it was an owl. 

Also, this time I noted that we saw only bigger birds--bluejays, mockingbirds and woodpeckers. The smaller birds didn't join the ruckus like they normally do when a snake's involved. 

I caught several photos of jays dive-bombing the owl. When we finally decided to leave, the owl still sat serenely on the pole.  

James and I weren't surprised to see it. A few months ago, we heard owls hooting in our trees. Then a week or so ago, a neighbor down the street, Trisha, told me that she's heard some, too. It was really cool to finally meet one in person! 
 

 

Look who was roosting this afternoon!

Our mama screech owl's film debut

Live owl cam in Austin

Hey, it's time to check in with Cathy and Bob Howell of Austin. They have a live camera on their eastern screech owl nest box. So far, their female hasn't laid an egg yet. It is SO COOL to watch! In the last two years, their owls have been ahead of ours, family wise. We had baby owls in 2009 but not 2010. Since an owl has been roosting again in our box, we're hoping to have little ones again. They are FUN to watch once they start climbing up the box and peeking out (check out our photos from 2009).

She owl

James saw our screech owl roosting again this evening. I grabbed my camera this time. Maybe we'll have little ones again this spring!

Our screech owl's definitely back!

There she is!

Maybe we'll get little ones this spring after all!

Agatha's back!

We didn't get any

photos to document

today's exciting observation

(she ducked back down),

but we DID spot

an eastern screech owl,

roosting in our Owl Shack

this afternoon!!!

 

 

UPDATE, FEBRUARY 5, 2011–Columnists Gary and Kathy Clark wrote about eastern screech owls in today's San Antonio Express-News. Check out their article, "Eastern screech owls are difficult to ignore."

 

She's a mom!

The mama owl in Austin hatched four little ones yesterday! I'm thinking/hoping ours is in the process of doing the same....

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/screech-owl-cam---austin

Agatha's back!

This afternoon, I heard a TERRIBLE commotion in the Meadow. Bluejays, wrens, titmice–they were all screaming at the top of their lungs while I sat in front of my computer, trying to write about beetles. Hmm, snake? Owl? Curiosity got the best of me, and I pushed away from my desk. I trekked outside, peered into the live oaks and scanned the branches. Meanwhile, the uproar continued. Some birds gathered near the owl box. Must be an owl, I thought.

This evening after dusk, James went outside with camera in hand. Sure enough, a little eastern screech owl perched in the box. Agatha! It has to be her! She probably returned a week or so ago when I heard the birds mobbing another time but couldn't find anything in the trees when I went outside to investigate.

Our eastern screech owl couple will roost in our two boxes during the winter. Nesting doesn't start up again until next March or so.

The owl kids fledged!

Last night, while out on our evening rounds, we didn't see anyone roosting in the Owl Shack. James even did his "rap" call, and no one responded. We looked up in the oaks but didn't see anyone, not even the mom.

This evening, again we didn't see anyone in the box. They must have all fledged? I was looking up, searching the oak branches...when what did I see??!.....

"Look, James!!" There on a branch sat a little guy, looking down at us! One of our owl children! How wonderful! They fledged the nest!

In the meantime, we'd seen a woman walking along the street with two cute little girls. "Should we ask if they'd like to see a baby owl?" James suggested. I shrugged. Seemed like too much trouble to walk that far over to our back yard.

On their return trip back, James suggested the idea again. "Sure," I agree this time. So he hollered at the lady, and she walked over with the little girls. One was in her arms. She was able to see the baby owl high in the tree branches, but the oldest child couldn't. So I showed her some digital shots of the owl babies on my camera.

"Hey, is that another baby owl?" the lady asked, pointing up into the branches. I searched and saw the owl, too–the mother!

"Wow, you've got good eyes!" I told her, then I stuck out my hand. "I'm Sheryl." James introduced himself, too.

"I'm Bertha, and this is Serenity and Cielo, my granddaughters," the woman said. Cielo, the older girl, smiled shyly. "Only she says that Cielo's not her name any more," Bertha added. "It's Hannah Montana!"

"Well, you're a very pretty Hannah Montana," James said. The little girl smiled again.

Moral of this story: sharing wildlife in a Wildscape can create new neighborly ties.

Not to mention we are SO proud of our little fledglings!

The owl whisperer

Can you stand another post and more photos of our screech owl family?

This evening, we spotted what we think is a third baby child. This one is much smaller than the other two. I didn't get a photo then so we returned later, set out lawn chairs, and waited. And waited and waited. No baby owls appeared at the top of the nest box.

In the meantime, James spotted the mother (or dad?) roosting not far away from the nest box, higher up in the live oak branches. He/she really blends in with the foliage.

I told James that he needed to try calling up a baby owl with his "rap" calls. So he got to moving and sputtering....

It worked! Up came a baby owl!!!

I laughed and laughed. Is that amazing or what?

My husband, the owl whisperer!

More photos of our owl kiddos

We're seeing the baby eastern screech owls more now. Earlier this afternoon, I went inside to write while James worked on planting coral honeysuckle. Sure enough, he summoned me back outside. Both owlets were roosting!

"They like rap!" James announced, then proceeded to make sputtering noises and gyrating moves. I laughed and shook my head. But he was right! The other owlet, intrigued with whatever that guy on the ground was doing, joined its sibling. Both of them stared at us, thoroughly entertained, no doubt.


Then something caught their attention. We thought maybe Mom was on her way with food....

This one was really straining to see. But Mom didn't come (after dark last night, we did see her or the father drop by for a feeding).


So back to work for both of us. It's really hard to get anything else done when there are baby owls to be entertained!

Owl children!

Look! We have at least two juvenile eastern screech owls! I just happened to be outside awhile ago, replenishing hummingbird feeders, when I glanced over at the nest box. We thought we'd heard some scratching lately coming from the box, and we were so hoping. Well, our hopes came true....

"Oh, my goodness!" I squealed as soon as I spotted the little guy, then I RAN to the house.

"James James James James!" I hollered as I dashed past the living room for my camera. "We have babies!" He followed me back outside and just smiled smiled smiled.

"Isn't that so cool?" he asked. I nodded.

Aren't they cute? There's at least two (James shot the bottom two photos). We just couldn't be happier! ...Well, unless we ever got our own purple martins. THAT would be yet another happy day!



P.S. I forgot report that our titmice children, who were hatched and raised in our original Owl Shack, apparently fledged just fine. A few evenings ago, I spotted at least four young ones in our live oaks, being attended to by their parents. Yay!

UPDATE–Cliff Shackelford, who made our Owl Shacks, sent us a note of congratulations with some words of caution: "Please remember to re-read one of our last FAQs that discusses owlets fledging a tad early. Usually it's from a clutchmate in a nest of three or more young that push and shove for an optimum seat for mom and dad to feed them. They get pushed out a day or two early in natural cavities, too. It's part of the life of an owlet! But all new Owl Shack landlords need to be prepared both mentally and physically. Good luck! Enjoy the baby owls!"

Reality TV owl-style

Love owls? Got your own nest boxes, like we do? Then you've got to check out the Screech Owl Cam, hosted by Cathy and Bob Howell of Austin, Texas. But hurry up! The four chicks are getting bigger every day and probably won't be in the nest much longer. The live stream includes audio so you can hear the babies scratching around and making their whistling sounds. The equipment is so good, you can even hear dogs barking in the neighborhood and white-tailed dove cooing off in the distance. (One night, a loud mosquito kept buzzing around in the box!)

Opposite the live video stream is a chat room, where lots of folks "gather" in the evening, sit wine or whatever, and discuss the comings-and-goings of the owl family (sometimes other topics pop up, too). They've even named the owl chicks. There's Hercules, Bev....and I forget the other names.

But talk about cute! The camera's up at the top of the box, looking down into the nest. Every now and then, the kiddos swivel their heads up (so you get great looks at their big eyes) in anticipation of mom or dad delivering a meal. (Yuck–I don't care to see THAT part.)

Reporter Mike Leggett with the Austin American-Statesman wrote about the Howells and their webcam in the April 26, 2009, edition. For the story, click here.

P.S. A big thank-you for this webcam heads-up goes to our neighbor, Trisha Campbell.

Screech owl!

Yesterday I mentioned how we hadn't seen either of our eastern screech owls. Well, looky here! One was roosting in the second Owl Shack this evening!

As far as we know, the titmice children are doing well in the other Shack.

Titmice living on the edge

Last year, we put up two nest boxes for eastern screech owls. More accurately, they are Owl Shacks hand made by ornithologist Cliff Shackelford of Nacogdoches, Texas. A pair of owls found them right away. Fairly regularly, we'd see an owl roosting in the opening. Most of the time, they wouldn't care when we walked up almost right under them. It was always cool to see one out sunning or resting.

Here lately, though, we haven't seen any owls. But we did spot a pair of titmice, apparently building a nest inside our original Owl Shack. Today, they've been in and out, feeding the little ones. I could hear them twittering excitedly whenever a parent showed up with chow. I waited until James got home, then he fetched the ladder, and we aimed an camera down into the box.




James snagged the photo of the babies with the mouths open. We're guessing we have at least six kiddos in the nest.

This isn't a great photo, but you can make out a parent, getting ready to go into the box....

Today, I e-mailed Cliff and told him about our...er....unorthodox tenants in his owl box. "Very cool!" he wrote back. "The only other Owl Shack landlord that has reported nesting titmice in their Shack is yours truly! A pair of titmice nested in one of our two Shacks during our first spring here in Nacogdoches (which was '08). We have tufted titmice here, and you have black-crested titmice there. They're similar in that they, like screech owls, seek old cavities for nesting. Pretty neat!"

We think so, too. Of course, James keeps wondering what might happen if an owl returns to the box....

I'd rather not think about that.

Started with a bug and ended with a bird...

Lately, these pesky little flies or gnats have been multiplying under the bird feeders in our back yard. I'm not sure yet what they are, but I'll figure'em out soon. They don't bite or seem too bothersome. I hope and assume they'll die out soon. This afternoon, I figured I'd shoot a photo of them, which would help in their identification. From there, I wandered over to....

...the owl nesting box, where one of our eastern screech owls was roosting. This is the same box where the very-relaxed fox squirrel was reclining the other day. I took a photo or two of the owl, then it flew away. Darn. So then....


...I leaned down and photographed the flame acanthus that's begun to bud out. Such a promising sight...


...as are the young sprouts of the nearby yellow columbine. Despite our severe drought, nature keeps going. Or at least tries. As I was walking back to the house, I spotted a little bird on the ground under the feeders. Hmmm. I snapped one frame, inched up closer, snapped another, inched up more. Soon, I was on the ground, nearly at eye level...

...shooting this little pine siskin. It didn't seem to even notice or care that I was there! It kept eating and eating, poking its beak in the ground, scooting along, eating eating eating....


....it didn't mind at all that I kept shooting away (surrounded by those dratted flies), changing my position, leaning closer, moving away, snapping more. Then I began to wonder if something was wrong with it. Could it be sick? Why wasn't it afraid, like a normal bird? Who knows.




Finally, it finished dining. Well, sorta. Because it flew up and landed on our new yellow thistle feeder....

A few minutes later, it had enough there and flew over to the thistle sock. Would this little guy ever get enough to eat?


It took off, and I set my camera down on our patio table. I kept my eye on the bird, though. It landed on yet another feeder but not for long. From there, it was on to a bird bath on the ground. I went back for my camera and got another shot or two....


Will this tale/tail ever end, you must wonder by now? Me, too! From the bird bath, I foll0wed the little guy up into the oak tree, where it perched on some ball moss long enough for me to snag a few more photos. By then, both of us had had enough! It flew higher up in the branches, and I turned off my camera.

(Click on the photo!)

So goes my story that started with a bug and ended with a bird.