 With much
cooler temperatures, June spent most of her day in the nest box brooding
the owlets. Emmett and Abigail are now ten days old, which is almost too
old for brooding. They spent their day struggling to get out from under
June and walk around the nest. Ernie, on the other hand, welcomed the warm
bed and slept for most of the day. June did climb up into the door once
and appeared to be ready to pounce on a squirrel, as shown here, but
changed her mind and backed into the nest to preen the owlets instead.
While they appear to enjoy the preening, I suspect that they would have
preferred some squirrel. June finally left the nest shortly after sunset
and returned an hour later with a meal that set off a feeding frenzy. Just
as they finished, Ward arrived with his first food delivery of the night.
The owlets now appear to have adjusted to occasional days without food,
but start wheezing anxiously as darkness approaches. |