Screech Owl Cam' Status

The female screech owl stopped by the nest box Wednesday morning before sunrise to have a good long look (16 minutes) into the box from the entryway. She was back at 8:15 PM for another long look, then, for the first time this year, she entered the box. She investigated it for eight minutes, left for six, and was back again for fourteen. During the latter visit she began forming a depression in the bedding material to hold her eggs. There's no difficulty to doing so in the pine shavings that compose this bedding material, but she'll do it repeatedly before laying. Instinct seems to demand it, though this is about as close to nest-building as screech owls ever get.

She left for nine minutes, was then back for twelve. Then out again for two and half hours, then back for six minutes.... You get the idea. She's finally entered the box, and now she can't get enough of it. The first egg probably isn't very far off.