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8/8/10 Here are the links to jmm’s clips from the 8/7/10 banding:
Part1
Part 2
Part 3
Thank you all who came or watched yesterday. The intent was to hopefully provide a more in depth experience of learning more about not only owls, but all the other wild things we work hard to understand, share, restore, and/or protect here at Starr Ranch and beyond. Pete
7/19/10 The new view above is the IR cam on the left and the PTZ cam on the right. I set this up so you don’t lose the contextual view from the IR cam when I zoom in with the PTZ cam. And of course, the PTZ gives you some nice closeup views even if I’m not zooming. Please let me know what you think. BTW, the bandwidth use of two views is not much different than what all were watching on the single IR cam during the first brood. Basically, these two cams are reduced in resolution with no visible quality loss so together they are using virtually the same bandwidth the IR cam was using at higher resolution a few months back. Note: The 2 views are not quite synced, but the difference should only be a few seconds. Tech note: I’m gonna replace the hardware that digitizes the right PTZ feed so that “graininess” in the middle of the view goes away. Point: It’s not the cam, but the processor. And I’m quite certain I can fix.
On another note, I think by now most know I’m doing as best I can to make this cam as good as it can be – I’m not done by any means searching for ways to make this glimpse of nature the best experience it can be for all of you. So if you like what you see and learn here, please consider a donation. Any support you might be able to give will be greatly appreciated. I also hope you know that supporting this cam supports Starr Ranch – point being, no Starr Ranch, no cam. And I receive no personal gain from this cam aside from the total delight in so many of you folks getting really engaged with these birds and so much else that’s wild through watching, asking and answering questions, and just caring. Thanks, Pete
Second clutch:
Egg 1 05/21/10 08:00 Hatch 06/21/10 3:00
Egg 2 05/23/10 09:00 Hatch 06/23/10 8:48
Egg 3 05/25/10 13:00 Hatch 06/25/10 7:00
Egg 4 05/28/10 16:00 Didn’t hatch
Female: At least 5 yrs old. Banded as minimum 2 year old on 03/07/07 approx 300yds south of cavity
Male: At least 7 yrs old. Banded as minimum 3 year old on 04/07/06 approx 300yds south of cavity
First clutch band numbers and who we associated with each:
907-04040 Egg 2 01/04/10 10:30 Hatch 02/04/10 09:30
907-04041 Egg 4 01/09/10 06:30 Hatch 02/09/10 03:15
907-04042 Egg 5 01/11/10 11:00 Hatch 02/12/10 16:30
907-04043 Egg 1 01/02/10 11:00 Hatch 02/03/10 06:15
907-04044 Egg 3 01/06/10 15:30 Hatch 02/07/10 03:00
These two didn’t survive:
Egg 6 01/13/10 17:30 Hatch 02/13/10 08:30
Egg 7 01/16/10 11:00 Hatch 02/16/10 01:45
Female: Unknown because band not read. But high probability is same female as second clutch.
Male: Same male as second clutch.
To see nest tree location use : 33°37′46.18″N,117°33′15.12″W in Google Earth or http://maps.yahoo.com
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THANKS to those of you contributing as you watch! Those watching and not yet pitching in, please think about doing so. A lot goes into making this cam available, including the expense of putting it on the internet for anyone to tune in. Pete
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Daddy-O took off to do some food shopping for his bride. In the meantime, she got up from her low position, hungry like I thought, and is presently chewing on some large mouse jerkey, so there must not be a fresh stash of food. I feel for her, she is so precious, and presumably not that comfortable. I have fallen in love with these amazing wild birds, and can’t wait to see their darling offspring. Please let their season run smoothly!
They just got done copulating. She is staying in the low position and rasping. He is snoozing.
Actually I think after she had laid more eggs they did get moved further in. When they’ve got six eggs to roll they kinda get moved around a lot, but most of the time they were inside the tree, on the left side.
PattiO, great pic of last years eggs. Guess I didn’t realize they would be so close to the opening. I thought they might lay then further back so predators would not get a view. How do they control the chicks after hatching so close to the front?
So, what’s the word on getting the audio fixed? It was supposed to be done between Christmas and New Years (?)
The eggs are SO cute.
And so is our couple. They are sided by side and she rasps every once in a while. He is patiently snoozing next to her.
Both snoozing on one leg at the moment. Here’s one of my pics from last year where you can see the eggs.
BIG DADDY, YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! Female was sound asleep in incubating position, male woke up just long enough to hop on her back for a quickie. Must be different for owls, when I was young and pregnant, feeling ready to pop, sex was the last thing on my mind!! HeHe
Starting to get dark in the Owl House, yet no stirring whatsoever. Mrs. O had been very restless before, but they have been absolutely sawing logs for at least the last 2-3 hrs. She will probably be hungry when she awakens, but I think there is still a little food in the cupboard from before, so she will have a snack until Mr. O goes hunting.
Male just looked like he was trying to bring up a pellet.
Female is down behind him in incubating position.
Linda – I watch the Barn Owl Trust too. In fact they repositioned the cam inside the nest to the outside of the barn and you can still see two owls. Not sure if it’s the parents or two from the last fledge. You can even see them fly out and come back with prey in their beaks. It’s still a fun site.
Mrs. Owl has been extremely restless today and because of that I don’t think Mr. Owl has been getting too much sleep because she is always bumping into him.
That is a great resource and when the owls nest there again it’s also fun to watch Linda. Keep the link! You can watch the parents and babies inside the nest and outside the nest in the barn. Loads of fun.
Ms Starr owl getting some sun today!
Don’t know if anyone has already seen this website but I just did a search re: owl egg laying cycle and this came up – lots of interesting facts, and the pre-egg laying behavior fits our gal to a tee!
http://www.barnowltrust.org.uk/infopage.html?Id=5
The male needs to get outta the way! What is she doing?
Mr. Owl snoozing on one leg. Mrs. Owl in incubating position tearing up and eating a mouse.
Booth owls snoozing. Male to the left, female right. She’s even standing on one leg looking comfortable.
Both on 1 leg sleeping….
7:19 am PST; the positions are still the same; she is in incubating postion. Ymmmmmm! I hope Pete gets the sound fixed – it may already be too late to disturb Mrs Owl if she is getting ready to lay egg(s) any day.
04:01 am pst: Both still in. Same positions although they’ve moved around the cavity.
03:02 am pst: Both owls are in. He is snoozing and she is in incubating position
This is NOT a BOX nor is it a SWARM of bees. I would love to see a screenshot of a honeybee attacking an owlet. THEY ARE NOT!!!!!!! I have finally reached the limit of my patience. I DO NOT OWN THE TREE NOR THE OWLS…NEITHER DOES AUDUBON!!!!!!! IT IS NOT THEIR RIGHT NOR PRIVELEGE TO DO ANYTHING TO THE HARMLESS HONEYBEES, NOR IS IT YOURS OR MINE!!!!! Pete should probably delete this post of mine since I am so angry. I personally hope he turned off the camera so that posts like this one of Linda B.’s would stop. If you would perfer to cut down the eucalyptus tree and spray DDT (or SEVIN dust) then you should contact the State of California. We are losing our source of pollination by hundreds of thousands of honeybees each day due to colony collapse disorder…not to worry, you’ll be worrying later where all our homegrown food went.
And, Pete, I apologize to you for finally losing my temper on the forum.
Somehow I think he will understand Auntie Em.
It is so sad that thinking like this is so common.
Spraying poison on anything us humans doesn’t like is the problem, not the solution.
I’m dealing with the ignorance of my home-owner’s association regularly with like matters. It’s just a fight we gotta not ever give up on. And we must try to teach future generations to take better care of our planet than the current ones have done.
Starr Ranch has lots of programs to teach kids and adults alike.
Pete is right on when he says Think like an owl.
That’s so simple, it’s going to go over most people’s heads.
NEVER GIVE UP!
Trish, thank you. We lost our four colonies of bees because a neighbor sprayed his orchard during early and midday when the bees were pollinating HIS CROPS! We had gently reminded him of their activity, but he didn’t think anything he sprayed made any difference to his orchard and certainly didn’t care about our bees. I notice his orchard is gone now.
Pete has been so kind and understanding in his posts regarding the bees and ants, and I just finally went up in smoke like a volcano.