Potted Plant Owls are back in Johannesburg

[Donna]

A PAIR of spotted eagle owls, who nested in the pot plant of a Johannesburg townhouse, are celebrities in the publishing world.

Their owl family of four stars in a book called Pot Plant Owl, which was published by the townhouse owners last month, and records the 54-day drama.

Pot Plant Owl was so happy with the accommodation that she returned in October, a year later, to nest on the Eccles’ balcony again in her favourite pot plant.

It all began on an early August morning last year when Allan and Tracy Eccles woke up to find a spotted eagle owl crouching in the ficus tree pot plant, hiding from two crows. The owl had chosen well — the balcony belonged to keen bird enthusiasts, one of whom had conducted bird tours in the Okavango delta in Botswana.

“We thought, oh sweet, isn’t it nice that we have her for one day,� recalls Tracy.

That evening she and her husband were watering the plants on the balcony when they discovered an egg in the pot plant.

Her husband suggested they leave the egg there and contact a wildlife rehabilitation centre. The response? “You’ve lost your balcony,� FreeMe’s senior clinic manager Nicci Wright told them.

“The female spotted eagle owl has chosen your balcony and your pot plant to lay her eggs. She will lay one egg every three to four days until her clutch is laid and she will sit on the eggs for the incubation period to begin.

“If all goes well the female will return every year to within a few metres of the same nesting spot and raise her chicks,� said Wright.

The couple set up a hide in their bedroom to observe and document the movements of Pot Plant Owl and her family every day. The resulting book tells the tale of Big Chick and Little Chick learning how to eat, hunt and fly, and Pappa, the ever-protective male owl, hunting for his family and keeping an eye on them, albeit from a distance.

Once, Allan assumed it was safe to water the plants on the balcony when Pot Plant Owl had left her nest for moment.

“Out of nowhere — thud! — a big whack on the side of my head. The male swoops down and hits me, sending my head sideways with the force of his talons. When Tracy arrives home my ear and head are still bleeding profusely,� he writes.

For Tracy, the worst moments were the loss of the third chick, whom the Eccles believe was snatched by a crow on day eight, and the day one of the chicks fell off the balcony and went missing.

The chicks’ learning-to-fly lessons were a highlight, she says.

“The night that they actually left us, Big Chick flew up to the roof. Little Chick watched, and we held our breath, and she just made it to the roof. That’s when we knew we were probably not seeing them again. It was a lovely moment, but bitter sweet.�

The Eccles waited to see if their owl family would return this year, but August came and went. “Then, on the morning of October 4, Allan went to the curtains and shouted: ‘We’ve got an owl back, we’ve got an owl back!’�

Three eggs have been laid this season and Pappa is back again to support his family. Sapa

[Dumpsterkitty]

Someone on the WCV blog said she's sitting on 3 eggs!

Spotted Eagle Owl cam...AKA Pot plant owl

[MAK]

  SweeeeeT!!!!   

[Bobbie Ireland]

Someone on the WCV blog said she's sitting on 3 eggs!

Spotted Eagle Owl cam...AKA Pot plant owl

Make that a Potted Eagle Owl. What a hoot.

[Dumpsterkitty]

Spotted eagle owl momma & poppa are on 2 eggs so far!

http://potplantowl.blogspot.com/

http://www.africam.com/wildlife/potted_plant_owl_webcam

you will need to disable ad blocking for the cam

[Donna]

Spotted eagle owl momma & poppa are on 2 eggs so far!

http://potplantowl.blogspot.com/

http://www.africam.com/wildlife/potted_plant_owl_webcam

you will need to disable ad blocking for the cam

I did, still doesn't work! 

[Dumpsterkitty]

Spotted eagle owl momma & poppa are on 2 eggs so far!

http://potplantowl.blogspot.com/

http://www.africam.com/wildlife/potted_plant_owl_webcam

you will need to disable ad blocking for the cam

I did, still doesn't work!  

They had a link to how to shut it off-should have written it down...

I think it had to be disabled on the main africam page:

http://www.africam.com/wildlife/index.php

In firefox, I went to tools-adblock plus-disable on africam.com

Then pot plant owl worked.

[Donna]

Spotted eagle owl momma & poppa are on 2 eggs so far!

http://potplantowl.blogspot.com/

http://www.africam.com/wildlife/potted_plant_owl_webcam

you will need to disable ad blocking for the cam

I did, still doesn't work!  

They had a link to how to shut it off-should have written it down...

I think it had to be disabled on the main africam page:

http://www.africam.com/wildlife/index.php

In firefox, I went to tools-adblock plus-disable on africam.com

Then pot plant owl worked.

Ahh, I'm on Chrome, nothing works on Chrome except Rfalconcam!

[Bird Crazy]

Ahh, I'm on Chrome, nothing works on Chrome except Rfalconcam!

isn't that the truth I have Chrome on my lap top and it stinks 

[Dumpsterkitty]

Forgot I copied the instructions when I got to work...

Chrome: Adblock
1.Go onto the Africam Front Page (www.africam.com) and then click on the Adblock Plus icon at the top right of the browser.
2.Select the “Don't turn on pages in this domain� option.

Internet Explorer: Simple Adblock
1.Left click on the Simple Adblock icon on the bottom right of the browser.
2.Select the “Disable Simple Adblock on....africam.com�

Firefox: Adblock Plus
1.Go onto the Africam Front Page (www.africam.com) and then click on the Adblock Plus icon on your toolbar. (At the top right or bottom left) [I had to go to tools-adblock plus on my 'puters-don't have an icon I can find-DK]
2. Select the "disable on africam.com" option.

[Donna]

Ahh, I'm on Chrome, nothing works on Chrome except Rfalconcam!

isn't that the truth I have Chrome on my lap top and it stinks 

It's good for some things but Live streams, yes, it stinks!

*Ei, I did just that and it still didn't work. Did the don't turn on pages, refreshed, um nada. It's Chrome Dome! I used to like it.

[Dumpsterkitty]

Ahh, I'm on Chrome, nothing works on Chrome except Rfalconcam!

isn't that the truth I have Chrome on my lap top and it stinks 

It's good for some things but Live streams, yes, it stinks!

*Ei, I did just that and it still didn't work. Did the don't turn on pages, refreshed, um nada. It's Chrome Dome! I used to like it.

Oh well! I switched to Firefox YEARS ago and haven't had any reason to switch...

[Donna]

Ahh, I'm on Chrome, nothing works on Chrome except Rfalconcam!

isn't that the truth I have Chrome on my lap top and it stinks 

It's good for some things but Live streams, yes, it stinks!

*Ei, I did just that and it still didn't work. Did the don't turn on pages, refreshed, um nada. It's Chrome Dome! I used to like it.

Oh well! I switched to Firefox YEARS ago and haven't had any reason to switch...

I need to do something with FF, it's soooooooooo slow! Takes forever to open a page. That's why I went back to Chrome. I'm sure it's my PC or connection but Chrome is much faster than FF.

[Donna]

8 Dec and we have chicks!
We've got two little chicks sitting in the new pot plant nest with a very proud mom.

We've been out the past few evenings and every time we've returned home, we've found PPO sitting in the nest. Last night we came home and noticed that she was sitting more upright and stared at me when I tried to say hello.Pappa hooted on the rooftops for a long time last night and didn't fly too far away.

This morning, I opened the bedroom curtains, and there they were! Two little heads popping up from under their mom. We watched a few more minutes until feeding time...



http://www.ustream.tv/africampottedplantowl

[MAK]