this is owlet #2 to leave, I think

not by chance, Linda -- those prairie chickens ARE built a lot like chickens, and I did a lot of chicken drawings, including a bunch of S. - she was good training!!

Don't feel bad, my stick figures stink too. Imagine stick figures of those four owlets!!! Ha!  What I love about that owlet photo Chris just posted is that each suspicious character in that police lineup has a different expression and degree of discombobulation. Maybe they're all guilty of different owlet-crimes!

Wow, that was quick? It's great!

(if it takes under ten minutes and consists mostly of controlled scribbles, I call it that )

A quick sketch I did of a male Greater Prairie Chicken

If anyone is enjoying the owls, Chris has, as you know, had a REALLY rugged year keeping the owlcam going and, I know, REALLY appreciates emails saying so or, if you're up to it, postcards.

there's a link to send email at the bottom of the main owlcam page
http://gargravarr.cc.utexas.edu/owl/

("If you are enjoying the Eastern Screech Owl Nest Box Cam' this season, please send a picture postcard, ideally depicting where you live. My address (as of April 4, 2013) is: Chris W. Johnson, P.O. Box 7806, Austin, TX 78713, USA. If you have questions or comments, continue to send email.)

His new postal address: Chris W. Johnson, P.O. Box 7806, Austin, TX 78713, USA

11:15 PM CDT – Between the time the first owlet leaves the nest (thus becoming a “brancher�), and all the owlets have left the nest and begun to fly (thus becoming “fledglings�), the adult owls spend their nights operating in a hyper-defensive mode that results in any potential threat that passes near a tree containing an owlet being warned with bill clapping to go away, warned more severely with mock attack passes, and finally outright attacks, which are not unlike being unexpectedly hit in the head with a well lobbed softball that happens to have needle-sharp talons.

Tonight, however, this clodhopper seems to have found a curious loophole in the rules: Go out on a pleasant night when the sky is bright enough to make silhouettes of the trees, lay down in the grass between a favorite screech owl perch and their nest, their branchers, or, ideally, all three, then watch and listen. The adults will fly to and from the hunt and the nest answering the begging calls of owlets, they will fly to branchers with food, they will pause on branches above you for long studies, they will fly silent and low just above you apparently without ill intent, and they will also pause on favorite perches nearby and exchange songs with each other; the conversations of owls. Call it anthropomorphizing, if you wish, but I recommend withholding judgement until hearing it yourself.

Tonight, while exploiting that loophole for several hours, I watched owlet no. 1, leap and climb, leap and climb its way through the nest box tree, and into the adjacent crepe myrtle, which will provide it with good cover during the day tomorrow. Silent arcs of migrating birds, their pale undersides caught in the city lights, disappeared into the north one after another, crickets sang from all sides, light winds passed by, playing in the grass as they went, and a few Alpha Virginids even showed themselves.

Owlet no. 1 could scarcely have chosen a better night for branching.

sorry if anyone has already posted this...hilarious work!!

Dog Wants a Kitty

http://news.yahoo.com/boat-filled-protected-species-hits-coral-reef-094802333.html

there will be some owlet photos, apparently. In the meantime, after the owlet rail installation, one immediately took advantage of it!

April 14 – 9:35 PM CDT – Owlet no. 1 left the nest box an hour or so ago. As soon as I noticed it disappearing into the entry hole (or exit hole, in this case), I went outside to watch it. It spent a long time on the owlet rail evaluating its options, and even being fed a time or two by mom and dad. Then it executed a perfect jump to a limb near the far end of the owlet rail, climbed as high as it could on that limb, and leapt across the gap to another limb, clambered up that to a small branch, and stayed there so long I had to give-up my watching. I assume it’s still there, contemplating its next move, and, I’m sure, hoping for a food delivery or two. I’ll be doing my best to check on its whereabouts throughout the night.

26 incredible color flight shots mixed into the 3/12 slideshow
http://gargravarr.cc.utexas.edu/owl/2013/20130412/
and owlet family portrait, hopefully, after tomorrow!!!

Chris posts:
April 12 – ...It appears that every owlet can now climb into the entry hole, but none are going very far into its three inch depth, so their primary goal in doing so, at least at night, is to grab all of the food deliveries until they’re full, at which point they go have a rest on the nest box floor, and some other owlet moves into entry hole. You'll see them in a number of the photos either waiting for, or receiving, food. (When they sit in the entry hole during the day, it’s to take in the sights and sounds.)

Tomorrow afternoon I anticipate bringing down the nest box for the annual attachment of the owlet rail, and owlet family portrait. The weather forecast is favorable, and it doesn’t look like the owlets are anxious to leave the nest between now and then (fingers crossed), so I hope to have some good owlet photos for you in the April 14 update.

By the way, to safeguard against future hosting problems, such as those that kept this site down for two and a half weeks earlier this season (my thanks, once again, to everyone whose emails, etc. fixed that problem), I’ve registered the domain “ChrisOwlCam.net�. Currently, that address just takes you to good old “gargravarr� at UT Austin, but it could take you to an alternate host in the future.

aha. here's a more focused cyclops shot.
One or more of the owlets seems to be spending a LOT of time sitting in the entryway. Otherwise, things look pretty crowded indoors, with someone always playing Dracula and someone clowning around, flapping, etc.

hahahaha - yeah...every year there are some of those. isn't that insane? I wish they were more focused!!

interesting in the dailies is that Chris will insert a color flight shot from outside in chronological order, so you'll see an adult owl approaching the nestbox, with the next capture from inside, owlets going ballistic to get whatever food item that adult had been bringing in.

owlet wing, owlet silliness

April 10 – There’s been a lack of clarity of the images from the side video camera. It's a safe bet around this time in nesting that enough wet adults have hit the window in front of the camera with their wings, and enough inquisitive owlets have poked, prodded, and even tried to climb that same window, that some grunge has accumulated. Therefore, during a lull in the food deliveries at 5:33 AM, I brought the box down to clean the window, and, I thought, to take some owlet photos. The box came down, I opened it up, found what I expected: four owlets playing dead. But one was ruining the effect by adding bill clapping sounds to its “dead� impression. Giving it an ear rub would quiet it (and seem put it to sleep, like rubbing a dog’s belly), but it would always open its eyes again and start the bill clapping sounds. ...
(much more to read on the owlcam page)

and a few pictures from the last few days (talk about the hairy eyeball, Ei!):