Egg no. 3 was laid this morning sometime between 12:27 AM and 2:17 AM CDT, at which point Mme. Owl went into brooding mode. Meanwhile, her mate is doing a good job of supplying food, most of which appears to be caterpillars (a possible benefit of the natural tall grass, etc. that I've allowed to develop in my yard, especially around the nest box tree).
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Hi Chris! Enjoyed watching your owls over the years. We are in the 7th season with our nest box in Cedar Park, and the 4th egg hatched yesterday. Strange we are about 17 miles apart and our season started so early, about 21 days. We will be watching yours! Mark
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ReplyDeleteMark,
ReplyDeletePeople often ask me when screech owls start nesting, and I always tell them: a month before they believe spring will begin in their area. I no longer recall where I read that, but my experience says that it’s the closest thing there is to a good answer to that question. I then have to go on at length to qualify that answer, saying that, like the rest of us, the owls can only guess when that’ll happen (which is not to suggest that they’re giving the matter conscious mental consideration), and that some of their guesses are wildly wrong.
Being fortunate enough to have a raptor rehabber as a friend, I get all the dirt on what the local raptors are up to. So I know, for instance, that something like four years ago one pair of local screech owls decided that it was the right time to nest at the start of December.
Go figure.
----Chris
P.S. That’s just one of many reasons why the question ”When should I put up a screech owl nest box?” always elicits the answer “now”, no matter what time of year it is. (There is no wrong time to put up a screech owl nest box, dear reader. The only mistake you can make is to wait.)