 Inside
the nest, the owlets were bringing new meaning to the word "wild".
They slapped each other with their wings as they flapped them, jumped on
each others backs, and threw wood chips all over everything. They also
tried to eat all of the food that June had stored on the floor. Because
they have not yet learned to cut up their prey, everything had to be eaten
whole. Emmett almost choked trying to swallow a whole chipmunk before
giving up and Abigail ate a very large mouse that took her five minutes to
swallow. Emmett also tried to swallow an entire chipmunk while June was
there, but she quickly pulled it back. Of greater interest are the first
real attempts to climb to the door. Emmett is shown on your right
stretching high enough to put his beak in the bottom of the door opening.
Ward and June apparently think they are ready and have spent much of the
evening trying to call them out. Ward is hooting while June whines. It may
take them a few more days, but they are now seriously working toward their
next big challenge. |
It's
not surprising that June now prefers nice quiet perches like this one to
the chaos of the nest box. This perch is in the nest box tree about 10
feet over the nest, so that she can keep an eye on the owlets while she
scans the area for prey. With no crows in sight, she caught two chipmunks
and a mouse before noon and stored them on the nest box floor for later
meals. Ward continued to roost far away from the nest , but called home
twice before dark.