I report with some melancholy that Olive has not laid any eggs yet. We checked the box last night as soon as she left, only to find that the previously soft olive twigs inside are now as brittle as toothpicks and there are no eggs. If she hasn't laid any eggs by now, we're thinking she isn't going to. Explanation? Well, it's possible that Olive could be more correctly called Oliver. Not going to try to check out that possibility! Another, more grim, possibility is that Oliver enticed her to the box, she moved in and then, sometime prior to mating, Oliver was killed. I can think of no other possibilities.
I do think Olive is correctly named because all the references say the males don't use nest boxes, not even for daytime roosting. But then, as Ivan pointed out, the books also say that W. screech owls don't bring any nesting material into the box and yet she brought all those olive twigs into the box. I had cleaned it out just prior to their arrival. Was there time for a squirrel to bring the twigs in?
Anyway, we'll continue to watch for her each evening and, every 2 weeks or so, we'll check the box, but I'm not anticipating any stupendous finds. We're just thrilled to have her as one of our avian tenants.
I do think Olive is correctly named because all the references say the males don't use nest boxes, not even for daytime roosting. But then, as Ivan pointed out, the books also say that W. screech owls don't bring any nesting material into the box and yet she brought all those olive twigs into the box. I had cleaned it out just prior to their arrival. Was there time for a squirrel to bring the twigs in?
Anyway, we'll continue to watch for her each evening and, every 2 weeks or so, we'll check the box, but I'm not anticipating any stupendous finds. We're just thrilled to have her as one of our avian tenants.
