Olive has been showing up at the entrance hole of her box each evening like clockwork. I'm keeping a record of when she's in the opening and when she leaves for the night. I don't always see her enter the opening, but she sure is cute when she (apparently) hops up to the bottom of the 3" hole and surveys her world with a demeanor that can best be described as sleepy at first, then increasingly more and more alert, looking around, peering intently at things unseen by me as I watch from behind the black cloth. Just before she flies away, she seems to become agitated, looking around quickly and adjusting her position, then leaning slightly outward and off she goes!
Now I have an issue about which I WELCOME comments/suggestions/observations. Next post will display 2 photos - the one dated in April we know for certain is Oliver, the Dad of last year's trio. The other one, dated in November 2010, is, I think, Olive, the Mom of the trio. I think they are 2 different owls, but am still not 100% convinced! There are some behavior differences, but those can be explained by circumstances. For example, Oliver would always fly due east when he left the box, but that was because he was meeting up with his family in the redwoods. When she leaves the box, Olive seems to choose her direction randomly. The only direction she has not flown is west. Olive also spends only a short time in the opening, sometimes only 5 minutes, before departing. Oliver used to sit in the opening for up to 45 minutes, but then, he was waiting for the wife and kids to get up! So, I took a photo of Olive's face and one of Oliver's face and compared them. Ivan is 100% convinced that they are different owls, and I agree, but I'm having trouble trying to figure out why Olive went into the box. Yes, it's a nest box, but she has no knowledge of it or experience with it. I guess it's possible that she saw the box and decided to give it a look-see, liked it, and moved in. OK, enough of this speculation! Please look at the two, rather poor-quality photos of the 2 owls who have, at different times, been occupants of the box and let me know what you think. I guess we'll just have to wait for Screech Owl nesting to begin before we can know for certain that the one in the box now is Olive (or maybe Olive-2).
