Dec. 20 - Huge relief

   At 4:35PM this afternoon, Olive hopped up into the opening of her box. At that very moment I was eyeing a large crow's nest in our big oak tree to see if there were any large (& unwelcome) owls in it. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement near Olive's box and was so overjoyed to see her, I almost whooped with delight. As I leaped to the scope to get a better look, she just sat there with her eyes closed looking completely at ease and content. She flew from the box at 5:07PM. Just before she left, I asked her to please be careful, to watch out for large avian predators and to come back to the box. I hope she listened.

Great Horned Owl story

   This story has pertinence, so bear with me!  In 1980 or 1981, when I was in graduate school at San Francisco State, a bunch of us went to Los Banos NWR in March or April on a field trip. This area is about 10 miles east of I-5 in the vicinity of the San Luis Reservoir and is a waterfowl migration stop. Great place in fall and winter for ducks and geese. We found a Great Horned Owl nest in a very tall cottonwood tree near the water and we could see that the nest had at least one young in it. We had no means to climb the tree (remember we were young and stupid at the time) so we decided to return the next day to give it a go. During the night there was a terrific storm with high winds in that area. When we arrived at the place of the nest, we were horrified to see that the nest, formerly in a (natural) horizontal position, was in a completely vertical position, perpendicular to the way it should be. We approached the base of the tree and noticed a largish ball of white fluff on the ground with an intact egg next to it. The fluff was a deceased baby Great Horned Owl. As an aside, in my Ornithology class we were required to "put up" 3 dead birds. This phrase means to prepare a specimen to be kept in a museum for possible taxonomic research. Most of the birds we were putting up were starlings (I guess they ARE good for something!), but Dr. Bowman, our prof. said that we could find our own birds if we wanted to.
   So, we took this unfortunate baby owl home with us and I took it to the bio lab to put it up. It caused a bit of excitement in the department because one doesn't often see a dead baby GHO, nor does one see such a creature being dissected. If I remember correctly, the owl was about 8 or 9 inches tall and was covered with white fluffy feathers. I was removing the internal organs when I noticed something big in the bird's crop. I made an incision and out came an intact adult Brewer's Blackbird! Dead, of course. Suddenly there were quite a lot of people in the room to see this! Dr. Bowman said to note down the blackbird's measurements as well as those of the owl and put both birds in formalin. The two birds were in the SF State Biology Department collection for several years after that day, but I'm not sure if they're still there or not.
   I relate this story to illustrate why the presence of a pair of Great Horned Owls anywhere near my yard has given me some serious dyspepsia! Olive is about 8" tall and could easily become a late night snack for a Great Horned Owl whose height varies from 18" to 24!" A Brewer's Blackbird measures from 8-9" tall. So, stay tuned. I'll post tonight about Olive's continuing presence in the box - or about the other possibility. Admittedly, if she doesn't show up in the box, it doesn't mean she's dead. She could have heard the GHO's last night - in fact she probably DID hear them - and may have decided to seek shelter elsewhere. I REALLY want to tell you, though, that she's still in the box!

Dec. 19 - New anxiety

   Each evening as I watch Olive before she leaves the box, I whisper, "Good luck hunting, be careful, and come back!" I know she can't hear or understand me, but it's my talisman for keeping her in our yard. She left the box last night (Dec. 19) at 5:05PM, looking so fierce, but so small. At 10:20PM, as Ivan and I were about to get into bed, I thought I heard some strange kind of music being played outside. I opened the sliding glass door to the yard and, FROM OUR YARD, came the unmistakeable call of a Great Horned Owl. The call was answered by another GHO who was a bit farther away. Great Horned Owls are VERY big and, no joke, they EAT Screech Owls. The GHO's called a couple more times, making me extremely anxious. During their calling, I went outside (it had stopped raining) and said, "Please go away. Normally we would be delighted to have you in our yard, but we already have an owl and we don't want you here." I will be very concerned until I see Olive tonight in the opening of the box!  Even then, if the GHO's stick around, Olive, Oliver and any kids they have this spring would be in great danger.  My fingers are crossed that the GHO's found a lovely nest tree about 10 miles away! I'll post again tonight after I've seen Olive (and given her more serious instructions re being careful).

Nov. 22 - Olive Watch continues . . .

Olive is a puzzle at her easiest.  I didn't check the box until 4:45 this afternoon.  Sun had set, but it was still pretty light.  She was in the opening, staring intently at something a bit to her right (toward our back fence).  Try as I did, without giving away my prurient interest in her and her activities, I was unable to see what had captured her interest.  I can watch her for hours - she's endlessly fascinating in her visual preparations for departing her home.  I was, I might add, in my thin-stockinged feet - no shoes.  It was 50°, overcast, with calm winds, but the concrete under my feet was COLD.  She was giving all the signs of preparing to leave - yawning, looking around quickly, shifting her position in the opening.  Suddenly (at 5:00PM) she flew straight ahead out of the box - EAST!! - into the redwoods in the pool yard!  This after my post of Nov. 10 that she never flew east, always north or south!  Well, my brain saw an opportunity here, but I had to act quickly.  I ran into the house to the kitchen back door, slipped into my tennies, and ran - slowly - to the redwoods.  Checked Tree #1, no Olive, Tree #2, no Olive, #3 (they're NEVER in #3), and was about to turn around and give up when, in the looming dark, I saw her on a branch about 7' high, in Tree #4.  She was watching me, sitting quite still, but with her ear tufts up, possibly meaning she was a bit alarmed by my lumbering about.  I greeted her quietly with my usual "Hi, Olive" and backed up to Tree #2.  I REALLY didn't want to just go away, so I hid (in human terms) behind Tree #2 and watched her for as long as my poor human eyes could see her on her branch - it was getting REALLY dark.  Eventually, I decided I would probably score points with her if I humbly left the area and went indoors.  This I did, but I was filled with joy with the knowledge that she did NOT fly away when I showed up among the redwoods.  So, please change the assertion I made that she doesn't fly into the pool yard.  I hope she flies there every night - then I can head out there and see if I can spot her.  What an absolute delight it is to have her like our yard!

The Observation Set-up and a Tale of Adventure!

  This is what I would see if I moved off the little step just outside our bedroom where the "blind" is. The greenish shrub in the center is a forsythia in which Hermit thrushes, Bewick's wrens and Oak titmice fuss and forage. Photo was taken last spring and the ladder is no longer propped up there.

   This is the side of the "blind" I stand on. The odd-looking thing in the middle of the black cloth is where the scope goes and I pin the material around the lens, so Olive doesn't see any movement.

   And this is what Olive sees when she sits in the opening of her box. The green material is shade cloth which I put there several years ago. Obviously, the hole is for the lens of the spotting scope.
   On Nov. 2, I was watching Olive as she prepared to leave. Suddenly, as I watched through the scope, she became fixated on - what seemed to me to be - me! She stared at something that I could not see and dared not attempt to see. Then she flew - straight at me! In a second or so I heard a small scritching sound and then she flew to a pin oak about 15' from me, and in view of me without the scope! I ran inside and told Ivan that she had caught something and was in the pin oak. We rushed outside with our binocs and watched her toss some small thing into her mouth. The only thing we saw well was a short tail as it went down her throat! Mind you, where I stand - and where she had seen a MOUSE - is about 50' from her box. This all happened at 6:15PM, just after the sun had gone down and dusk was settling. Talk about remarkable vision!

Nov. 10 - Portrait of an Owl

   This photo was taken a few minutes before Olive left for the night the other evening. She's becoming sort of  predictable when she's about to leave. She looks left, right, up, down, then opens and closes her beak a couple of times. Finally, she seems to be adjusting her shoulders, leans out and flies away. I'm pretty sure that this bird is NOT Oliver, but whether it's our Olive, or another female, is not really known to us.  I think it's not Oliver for 2 reasons - one is that she always flies out of the box and makes an immediate left (for her) turn, flying north. The other reason I think it's not Oliver is that she sits in the opening of the box for only 10-15 minutes or so. Oliver used to sit in the opening for some 45 minutes each night. If we could get a full frontal view of her, we could see if she had the spots on her chest that Olive had, or we could see if she (he) has the spot that looks like an upside down hockey stick on her right side (which Oliver had).

Nov. 8, 2010 - Departures

Olive has been leaving the box just a bit earlier each night.  The overcast weather the other day seemed to make her think it was darker - and later - than it actually was and she left quite early, but these past few nights, her departure times hover around 5PM.

Nov. 2, 2010 - pre-departure

      I decided that the door to the box needed to be closed after watching (let's call him) Oliver prepare to leave the box. He moved around near the open bottom of the door and I was concerned that he was going to try to leave through that small opening! He surely had not entered the box that way! Anyway, he peered out that opening for several minutes before I saw him fluffing out his feathers and yawning. All of a sudden he was in the round - and proper - opening to the box. He sat there, as he used to, for several minutes before flying straight out to the redwoods. Ivan and I took the ladder to the tree holding the box, I climbed up, closed the door and latched it.  Now Oliver has complete privacy in the box. Maybe, without all the olive twigs in the box, it will appeal to Olive as a place to start their next family!

The month and day on the time stamp are reversed.
This photo was taken yesterday, Nov. 1.

Nov. 1 - a few minutes later . . . .

Look closely . . . !

Nov. 1, 2010 - He's back, maybe!

I'm doing my best not to get my hopes up, up, up (I'm actually not doing it very well!), but there is a screech owl in the nest box!!  This morning I was alerted to something going on in that yard by the gang of titmice, wrens, warblers, etc who were scolding and scolding and all their noise was directed at the box.  About a week ago I checked the box (by climbing up the ladder) and found that a squirrel had brought a couple of pieces of shredded bark into it.  I swept those out and opened the door wide so they wouldn't go back in.  In the ensuing couple of days, the door has almost completely closed, but it's open enough that I could see the lovely shape and coloring of a screech owl!!  I'm going to see if Ivan will try to get a photo of the semi-open door and the owl lurking inside.  I am jazzed!

Sept. 30, 2010

For now, this will be the last report on our little Western Screech Owl family for 2010.  We've seen no owls for the past week.  I've done an owl check at least twice a day for the past 7 days and have seen none.  Yes, my heart was broken the first time I didn't see them, but Ivan and I both have confidence that they'll be back.
I think the olive sticks we had in the owl box had been brought in there by a squirrel, but those sticks are now gone and the interior is newly redecorated with - NOTHING!  I'm keeping a sharp eye on the box to be sure that no squirrels of any sort move in.  I'm also going to pretend I'm 8 years old and am going to climb trees #2, #4 and #5 to see if I can figure out which tree was the nest tree.  I'll post what I find - if anything.

Sept. 21, 2010

This took place just now, on 21 Sept. 2010 between 7:00PM and 7:18PM.  I went out to see if I could watch Olive leave for the night.  I had seen her this morning, but didn't see her on my later Owl Check.  At 7PM, I checked all the trees, sans binocs, but saw no one.  At about 7:10, I was walking very slowly back towards the edge of the wall, when I heard the soft trill of a Western Screech Owl.  It seemed as though the owl was in tree #2, right above me.  I was standing next to #3.  I waited.  I very quietly moved to #2 and leaned up against it, with my back on the trunk.  The owl trilled once again, then I saw movement.  From the top of #2, the owl flew to #5 and sat on the lowest branch, with her back to me.  I silently (to me) approached and stopped at #3, about 15' from where she sat.  She bobbed a bit and flew to the fence.  I heard her land on the fence and I walked extremely slowly and quietly to #4.  She sat for a few moments - maybe one minute - bobbed a bit and flew out of my sight.
I had been mourning the loss of our owls, understanding that they must move on, but missing them acutely.  Seeing Olive - or the owl I'm assuming to be Olive - was so reassuring, so wonderful that I will continue checking for her, or any other owl, in the redwoods of our yard as often as I can.

Aug. 18, 2010

       Ivan took this last night when we went to the redwoods to see if we could photo any of the owls.  We almost walked right smack into Othello who was sitting at about eye level watching us as we bumbled around.  I didn't see any of them and said they must have flown when Ivan spotted him about 5' away from us!  He sat quietly, watching, as Ivan took several photos.  'Smitten' pretty well sums up how I feel about this little guy!

Othello

Aug 17, 2010

         Olive has returned in all her diminutive loveliness!  There seems to be a new twist on the story of our little owls, though.  Last night when all three were preparing to go hunting, Oscar flew from his tree and Olive lit out after him in what I surmised to be a 'get-the-heck-out-of-here' chase.  I have no knowledge of whether she has done this before, but Oscar seemed a bit flummoxed by this turn of events.  He crashed into a couple of branches and when he attempted to return to one of our redwoods, she chased him away again.  This raises a couple of questions.  Is Oscar actually a female, and Olive wants her out of her (Olive's) territory now that (s)he (Oscar) is managing on her own?  Is Oscar a male and Olive wants him to find his own territory?  And what about Othello?  He seemed completely unfazed by Olive's aggressive behavior toward the affable Oscar.  Anyway, we still have three owls.

Aug 6, 2010

        Ivan and I have just returned from a 5-day trip to visit with family and friends in Pennsylvania, a quick, but really wonderful trip.

         For several days before we left, I had seen sometimes one, sometimes two, but never all three of the owl family.  I was sorry to note that Olive was the one we didn't see any longer.  I figured she had flown to wherever these owls go when their families are all grown up.  Ivan and I hoped that she would drag Oliver back here next February to restart their familial activities.  Oscar and/or Othello were seen each day before we left.  They had grown used to my visiting them a couple of times each day, sometimes calmly watching me behave like a raving lunatic when the blinkety-blank jays were in their hysteria mode.  We wondered what, if anything, would happen while we were absent from the yard.

         We got home very late on Wednesday evening, so the owl check had to wait until morning.  In the morning I got up while it was still dark and walked around in the redwoods as it got light.  I saw no owls.  I was sort of expecting that, but was disappointed nonetheless.  Much later, at around 7:45PM (beginning to be dusk), I did the nightly check and, lo and behold, there was Othello gazing down on me from a branch about 8' up Tree #3.  I spoke quietly to him and asked where his brother was.  He said nothing.  I took that to mean that perhaps Oscar was still well hidden.  (Pay attention now - this is the REALLY good part of this episode!)  As I continued my walk the jays began screeching and one of them was just above me.  I loaded a rubber band in my gun, aimed carefully through all the foliage and shot.  The rubber band hit him!!!  Took him completely by surprise, pissed him off and he flew away, hollering and complaining.  I danced a little jig and continued with the search.  (For those of you who may worry about my being mean or cruel to the jays, hitting the bird with the rubber band from about 12' away would be equivalent to throwing a marshmallow and hitting the bird.  The jay didn't even lose a single feather, but was he ever mad!)

         I walked around Tree #4 and, with my binoculars, I spotted Oscar waaay up, just under a tangle of branches.  He, of course, had spotted me long before that!  I told him how delighted I was that he was ok and I went back inside the house.  I told Ivan of their presence and he asked if they were in a good spot for a photo.  I said I thought Othello was, but Oscar was not.  We went outside around 8:10 (by now it was truly dusk) and both kids were preparing for their nightly hunts, both in Tree #3.  Othello stretched one of his wings, scooted out from right next to the trunk of the tree and flew - absolutely silently - about 3 branches away, but still in #3.  All of a sudden, a third owl - OLIVE! - landed on a branch near Othello, after flying about 3' above our heads!  I was outwardly quiet, but was shrieking with delight to see her.  She spent a few seconds looking at us and then she and the 2 kids were off.

         Telling these three owls apart is actually still pretty simple.  I KNOW Olive, almost on sight, and Othello still has his baby fuzz around his face.  As they prepared to go hunting, they had fluffed their feathers out and looked about twice their actual size.  When they're roosting during the day, they look so small and vulnerable.

         So, that's the latest from Owl Central.  We're off to Norway in about 12 days, so the owls truly will have the yard to themselves.  It would be so wonderful if they staked a claim to our yard and stayed here, or at least came back next season. 

July 27, 2010

       Yesterday was a stressful one, but in a good way, sort of.  All day I was battling with the jays.  Olive was sleeping in Tree #1, her usual  spot.  The jays don't seem to bother her much, maybe because she really looks like a part of the redwood tree where she sleeps.  In addition, she just doesn't move even if they do spot her.  Oscar and Othello, on the other hand, seem to poke a rage button in the jays and those jays are relentless.  Oscar has been spending the days in a tree in my neighbor's yard, across a dirt road behind our yard.  There are some really tall trees in his yard and I've not been able to actually see Oscar over there, but nothing arouses the ire of the jays like a cute baby owl.  Othello has his usual safe spot in Tree #2, but yesterday the only owl I could see, all day, was Olive.  Yet the jays were screeching and yowling all day and I could tell that they were in the yard behind us.  I hoped that the two kids were safe, but I knew they weren't hidden very well if the jays were on to them.
            Ivan and I had our supper outside as usual and, for once, it was quiet.  We went back inside around 7:30 and about 10 minutes later the jay racket began once again.  I knew the owls would be getting ready for the evening's activities, so I grabbed my rubber band gun and raced outside.  Olive was asleep in Tree #1.  The jays seemed to be concentrated around #4 and #5 and they were in our yard.  I ran over there, but had no clear shot so I was banging on the branches with my gun, and standing on the fence in my efforts to see where, exactly, they were.  I had checked the tops of the trees where the kids usually stay, but neither was there.  The jays were so strident, I just knew that they must have the owls cornered somewhere.  After about 10 minutes of racing around banging on branches and trying to make the jays go away, I paused and noticed that it was very quiet.  The jays had left my yard.  My heart was beating very fast as I climbed down from the fence.  I turned to go back to check on Olive and was absolutely astonished to see Othello, then Oscar, sitting on branches of Tree #4 about 5' from me!  Both were staring at me and they looked so tiny!  I returned the stare, dumbstruck, then walked away as calmly as I could.  I hurried into the house and told Ivan to grab his camera and come outside.  I figured the two owls would surely have retreated to the top of the tree, but they were still sitting on their branches.  These little guys are surely the cutest owls ever!  Below are 2 of the photos Ivan took.  Below each photo I'll tell you who it is and how I know.

This is Othello, the baby.  
Look at his chest - he has almost no vertical stripes, but has the horizontal stripes that he had when we first saw him.  
Still has some baby fuzz, though.  I saw him first yesterday evening and had to resist the urge to go over and touch him!

This is Oscar, the owl who was knocked out of the tree the other day.  Take a look at his chest.  
He, to those who don't really know him like we do, looks like an adult, complete with the vertical markings on his chest.  
His fuzz is gone.  Don't his feet look big?!  
I tell you, I'm just totally smitten with these guys!  
(NOTE:  Each of these little owls is about 6" tall right now.)

July 22, 2010 - Attack!

         Just when we thought things were settling into a pleasant and oddly smooth maturation process for our little owls, Oscar had to put a big scare into us.  Last night, when we were almost finished with supper, at about 7:30, we heard an odd sound - not a voice sound, but a sudden rustling noise - coming from the redwoods where Olive and her 2 remaining kids live.  We looked up and saw this flapping bundle plummet to the ground and lay still.  We rushed over to the retaining wall and saw one of the babies lying on the ground.  I ran to him and picked him up.  He seemed stunned, but nothing looked broken and there was no obvious blood.  His talons were spread, but when I put my finger into them, there was no closing response.  This was alarming because he should have closed his little talons around my finger.  We wondered if he had been poisoned - not from anything in our yard, but possibly from wherever he was in the habit of hunting.  I handed him to Ivan and said I was going to get a box so I could take him to the vet or to the raptor rehab place.  I turned to go in the house and Ivan said I might want to wait on the box.  I turned around to see Oscar sitting up in Ivan's hand!  Improvement!  I took him from Ivan who went inside to get his camera.  I again put my finger in his talons and he closed them!  More improvement!  Ivan and I sat on the retaining wall for several minutes and Ivan suggested that I try to put him on a redwood branch, especially since he was most familiar with that specific area.  I walked slowly and carefully up the short slope and put him by the branch.  He readily stood on it.  Ivan took a final photo and we went inside the house.  I went out about 15 minutes later and he was gone!  I carefully checked the ground - no owl.  I looked up and saw Olive and Othello in the top of the tree where I had placed Oscar.  I went to Tree #2 and looked up and there he was - up high in his usual place looking down at me!  I was thrilled!  I gave him a quick thumbs up, admonished him to be safe, and went back inside the house.  Much as I loved holding him, I want him to be well and not do that any more!  I'd much rather watch him from afar as he grows into an adult.

         So, as you've gathered, we're down to 3 owls.  Ivan and I think that Oliver may have been the bird responsible for the piles of feathers seen a couple of weeks ago. Because he hasn't been seen since that day, we're assuming that he was killed.  Opal hasn't been seen since July 13.  Othello, the baby, is unmistakable in his horizontally striped plumage and Oscar is looking almost like an adult.  The photos below are of Oscar, whom, I believe, was knocked out of his tree as he prepared to go hunting.  The %$#! jays were active, but no vocalizations were heard just before Oscar dropped to the ground.  The jay attack is, of course, pure speculation by me, but is certainly possible.  This morning I spotted Olive sitting in Tree #1, her usual spot, but no babies.  That's not that unusual - generally they spend the day in Tree #2 hidden away and come out only if it's beastly hot.  I'll check again tonight and I'm hopeful that we'll all be back to normal!

Oscar, right after his attack by, probably, a jay.

Back on his branch

July 14, 2010

         No sign of Olive, but the 2 younger owls, Oscar and Othello, were in their usual pre-hunting spot in Tree #4.  Othello is as reliably found on the same branch of the same tree every day as the sun is reliable in rising!  He is the baby and is sooo cute.  His sibling, Oscar, was sitting on a branch just behind and a teeny bit above where Othello was sitting.  They appeared to be sitting back to back.  Othello gazed at me with a teeny bit of alarm, but he looked mostly calm.  Oscar was in full pre-hunt mode, flapping his wings, bobbing up and down while looking all around.  He flew to Tree #5 and sat facing me, so I was under inspection of two baby owls.  He seemed to be waiting for Othello to join him and I knew that I'd already caused enough disruption in their daily routine so I came in the house.  All this happened around 8:15, so it was getting dark quickly.  I hope Olive will forgive my intrusion and come back.

July 13, 2010

        This story is still going on right under our proverbial noses!  Olive, Opal, Oscar and Othello have been observed on an almost nightly basis in the redwoods in our back yard.  Oliver has not reported for his assignment for many days now.  We have many speculative guesses as to what he's up to - departed for more adventures, departed this life, we just don't know.  Here's how we recognize the others:  Olive has two big black spots on the right side of her chest.  Oliver had one long black spot that looked sort of like an oar, wider at the base than at the top.  Olive's spots are side by side.  Opal, the oldest of the babies, has the most adult plumage, but her fuzzy ears give her away as one of the babies.  Oscar, the next in age, has an almost adult face, but the rest of his plumage is very fuzzy.  He has lost his horizontal stripes.  Othello, the baby, still has horizontal stripes and is fuzzy all over.  He also looks completely distressed when he spots me skulking about in the redwoods in the early evenings.  The others look at me, then get bored and go back to sleep.
            Tonight we had 2 amazing and exciting things happen.  As we ate dinner, Ivan suddenly pointed toward the redwoods and said, "There she goes!" as Olive, who had been sitting all day in Tree #1, flew toward where we were sitting, turned and - - - disappeared.  I knew she had to be close and we started searching the roof edges, the trellis, and the eaves of the house.  She was sitting in what could best be called a cubby where two parts of the roof meet making a, well, cubby with a third part of the roof.  She was invisible from above, from below and from all directions except due east.  I grabbed the spotting scope and digiscoped this photo:

            But wait!  That wasn't the end of the fun!  I went back to the redwoods and watched Oscar and Othello as they began their nightly foray into the world of large bugs and tiny rodents.  Ivan watched Olive.  Once the two kids were away, I went back to join Ivan who said Olive was getting ready to leave.  I went into the bedroom because the motion-sensitive light had come on.  I thought maybe she had set it off.  I walked to the sidewalk, looked into the pool yard and there she was!!  Hard to describe how cute she looked, perched on a 4" tall light fixture!  I shouted to Ivan to get out here with his camera.  He did and took this photo:

July 12 later that morning . . . .

        The good news is that all 4 owls are now in hiding, where they should be.  There have been a lot of crows as well as jays around so I'm glad that they're no longer flaunting their presence.