Looking Up!

Posted on May 1, 2024 by Tina

The smallest Eastern Screech owlet is interested in what’s up.

These feathery bobble-heads are growing at a remarkable pace. At sundown, their parents visit, usually with moths, geckos, or worms (at least I think they’re worms…) as delectable nibbles for these cuties. While I don’t watch the camera overnight, I’m sure that feeding goes on throughout the dark hours. Often in the mornings, there is one, or more, deceased prey in the box, ready for a daytime meal when the chicks are peckish.

I haven’t taken daily photos to chart their growth, but they’re big and active now and it won’t be too long before they fledge. I’m fascinated with their daily activities, even when the three are lumped-up in a pile of fluffiness, breathing rhythmically.

Mom and Dad stay close by, coming into the box only to feed. Mom is always stationed just outside the entry hole.

Last year, the owls’ nest box was raided in late February, most likely by a Grey Fox or a Raccoon. This year, to prevent a predator from climbing up the tree and snatching the eggs or chicks, we wrapped the tree with linoleum flooring that comes from a roll, cut to size specification, at your neighborhood big box store. We nailed the width of the flooring to the trunk when mom owl had settled in the box to raise a family.

The tree isn’t near our roof or another large tree, so there’s no concern about a predator climbing up an adjoining structure, then lumbering over to this tree to gain access to the nest box. This makeshift collar has a thick linoleum coating which would be difficult-to-impossible for claws of a smaller mammal to penetrate for vertical traction, thus preventing successful climbing. Grey Foxes can jump up to 6 feet in height, so we placed the bottom edge of the collar at about 3.5 feet, the top edge reaches just over 7 feet high.

The collar looks a little goofy, and no doubt the tree is embarrassed by its attached swath of fake wood, but the fix is temporary and has provided some safety from predators for this owl family. It’s nearly 7 weeks since the the egg holding the oldest owlet (most likely the one on the left in the photo) was laid. Soon, these owlets will see their big, new world for the first time.

Owlets!

Posted on April 17, 2024 by Tina

Fluffy, feathery, floofy owlets have hatched! Two were born on Sunday, the third on Monday. Tiny and fragile, they’re covered with fine, white down; it’s hard to believe that these helpless little creatures will grow into fierce hunters.

Mama’s tail feathers fill the top of the photo. The dark splotch just below are the remains of a bird or rat–I can’t quite tell; food tends to shift around a bit. You’ll notice the scattering of feathers amoung the nesting material.

Uptown Girl is an attentive parent and Shy Guy is now perched in the oak tree, very near the nest box. His job is to protect the nestbox and hunt for his family. He’s delivered a couple of rats and at least one bird, (sob, I think it was a Carolina Wren), as meals for mama and babies. Eastern Screech Owls enjoy a varied diet, which is one reason why they’re so successful in urban areas. Meals range from insects to earthworms, toads and frogs, rodents and birds.

In the weeks that the female was in the nest box awaiting her bundles of joy, she slept quite a bit. Now, she’s more active, with nearly non-stop feeding and cleaning of the chicks. She and the chicks do have some quiet, restful moments throughout the day and often, the chicks are nestled under mama’s warm, feathered body. When the chicks are awake, I’m enjoying their peep-peep songs, such sweet little sounds, though probably indication hunger. Mama continues to trill during the day.

Early in the mornings (about 6AM) when I first check the owl cam, she’s not usually in the box, though she typically returns shortly afterward. Just before sundown, she goes out, but only briefly. As the chicks grow, her absences from the box will become longer and more frequent, as she’ll also hunt; it’ll take two adults to feed these hungry, growing chicks.

It feels weirdly invasive to watch these beautiful animals in their intimate family life, but it’s fascinating to observe the preparation for and parenting of their offspring. Though a few days since the segue from eggs to chicks, the chicks have grown and in a month’s time, they’ll fledge. Their development, supervised by their parents’ excellent training, will continue in more natural settings, less observable by human eyes.

Pretty Pollen Powerhouse Plant

Posted on March 22, 2024 by Tina

The spring garden is popping with all sorts of pollen-laden plants and pollinators are punctilious in their pollination proclivity. In particular, bees–both native and honey–are performing their tasks, adding to the pulchritude of the garden and the procreation of new plants.

Five Desert Globemallow shrubs, Sphaeralcea ambigua, that now grow in my full-sun garden, are powerhouse plants with pretty flowers; honeybees are passionate about these blooms. Four of the shrubs are pictured here, two in front, and two on either side toward the back, near the wall of the house. One shrub grows prolifically off-camera. I’m pleased as punch that I now have the perfect place to grow these peachy/sagey plants.

All five were damaged by the week-long hard freeze in January, but have rebounded with aplomb. I’m pumped about their growth and blooms.

Sun or clouds, honeybees visit the dreamsicle mallow blooms daily; they exit the blooms sprinkled with pollen, and buzz forth, from one bloom to the next. I can’t help but wonder: is it possible that honeybees become too pollen-packed to fly to their hives?

While Desert Globemallow is native to North America, it isn’t native here in Central Texas and can be a pain to procure. Mine have produced a couple of seedlings; with some good luck and careful transplanting, sharing of plants is in the plans.

In its native range of Nevada, Arizona, California, Utah and parts of Mexico, Globe Mallow tends to a longer bloom time than I’ve enjoyed here in humid Austin. These pretties’ bloom production will become pokey once summer’s heat pummels the garden. Except for occasional freeze damage during winter, the foliage is perfectly attractive year-round.