OwlCam log
(narrative accounts of days not covered on calendar)
3-29-98: June is enjoying the warm days and the three eggs look good. While she still does not leave the nest for more than ten minutes at a time, she is showing more energy and sleeping less. As I watch her move and stretch to get every last ray of sun, I'm convinced that solar heating is a significant item in her energy equation. Ward seems to have switched to larger prey and to once-per-night deliveries. Can't tell what he is bringing, but it's five to ten minutes of chewing, vs. the one gulp that it takes for a mouse. June eats these larger items while sitting in the doorway, rather than bringing them inside.
3-30-98: Ward made an all-time-record five food deliveries last nigh (no pattern lasts very long with these owls). Hunting must be very good. June is getting to be even more vocal in welcoming each delivery. She has also issued the classic call from the nest on several other occasions. June is now sleeping soundly on top of her eggs. (9:30am)
3-31-98: An unknown creature terrorized June for three hours early this morning by stalking on the ground beneath the nest box. My best guess would be a fisher or raccoon, but cant be sure since I only heard footsteps and one snarl. June was frightened enough to stop incubating and face the intruder from her door and from nearby branches on several occasions. She snapped her beak at the intruder when the sounds got closer. Unwilling to take on an adult barred owl, the intruder eventually left without attempting to climb the tree. I am; however, concerned that it would not have invested this much time without some hope of an eventual payoff. There were two early feedings last night: One at 9pm and one at 11:30pm. June started off the morning with loud whining at 5:15, but Ward did not reply for nearly ten minutes. When she heard him issue the classic call, she immediately flew out to greet him. I got a good look at them together in a nearby pine as they preened each other's feathers for ten minutes. June is now sleeping in the nest. (11 a.m.) Back To Calendar
4-3-98: There were two food deliveries last night. Both were received and eaten outside of the nest. Feeding duets could be heard through the rain in both instances. June's total time out of the nest has been less than thirty minutes in the last 24hrs. She issued several unanswered calls yesterday, which suggests that Ward has temporarily moved to a more distant daytime perch. He did this frequently last year. June continues to sleep more as the cooler weather settles in and is currently dozing soundly. (9:30am) Back To Calendar
4-5-98: A second night in a row with only one meal and this did not come till 4:30 this morning. The food delivery was preceded by a normal announcement call from Ward, and took place away from the nest. Hopefully, this indicates a "large meal". June has already issued four or five whines and calls from the nest this morning without a response from Ward. She is now totally focused on incubating her eggs and has been out of the nest for less than a total of ten minutes in the last 24hrs. With a little luck, our improving weather will allow Ward to catch up on his hunting tonight. June is now sleeping soundly. (9:05am)
4-6-98: Only one meal again last night and this came at 11pm. The exchange took place in nearby branches and a feeding duet could be heard. They had communicated earlier in the afternoon with an extended exchange of classic hoots at 4pm. June left the nest only twice for a total of 10 minutes. She seemed to be trying to send Ward a message this morning with 10 to 15 unanswered whines and classic hoots. He will have to do much better than this after the owlets are hatched. She is now sleeping. (9:50am)
(4-7-98) Ward did a little better last night with two food deliveries. On his first visit at 10:15pm, he landed directly in the doorway so that June did not have to leave the eggs to get her meal. The second came just one hour later. Ward announced his arrival with the whu-whu-whu call and June joined him in a nearby tree for the meal. She was out of the nest for a total of about 12 minutes in the last 24 hours. She seems a bit more content this morning and is now sound asleep in spite of the blue jays and other small birds raising a ruckus outside her door. (10am) Back To Calendar
4-9-98: In spite of the rain, Ward had a good night of hunting last night. He made two deliveries. His early morning delivery was accompanied by a slight variation of that strange sound that was introduced on April 2nd. This strongly suggests that the owls and not their prey make this peculiar sound. June made three lone outings from the nest, but always limited them to six minutes or less. She normally makes one of these lone outings just after dark--probably a rest break. For the first time this year, Ward has selected a daytime perch that is close enough to give him a clear view of the nest box--and me a view of him. June must be satisfied since she has not whined or called all morning. Both Ward and June are now sleeping soundly. (9am)
4-10-98: Yesterday, I enjoyed the rare privilege of watching and listening to both ends of a long distance conversation between Ward and June. June initiated the call with a classic hoot from the security of her nest box as crows squawked in the distance. When Ward heard her first call, he glanced nervously in the direction of the crows and (in the spirit of "don't call me at the office") remained silent. June responded to Ward's rebuff with louder classic hoots that brought even more attention from the crows. Finally, Ward tried to satisfy June with a subdued classic hoot. Rather than accepting his modest response, June continued to hoot and squeal as the crows drew closer. They soon located Ward's roost and spent the next hour pursuing him as he looked for a quiet place to sleep. In spite of his rough day, "SuperWard" was a high achiever in last night's driving rains. He made three deliveries between 4am and 5am this morning. Each one was accompanied by the "strange sound" that was introduced on April 2nd. It must be coming from the owls! June is now sleeping comfortably. (11am) Back To Calendar
4-12-98: A record amount of activity last night included a wild 11pm exchange that must have frightened the neighbors. One of Ward's three food deliveries was apparently a large bony one. Crunching and snapping could be heard for more than five minutes as June sat on the floor eating it. Other activities included three lone outings by June--each lasting from three to five minutes. June did quite a bit of classic hooting between six and seven this morning and Ward responded five to six times. She is now sleeping. (10am)
4-13-98: No sign of a hatchling yet. Barred owl incubation times are known to vary from 28 to 33 days and this is day 28 for egg#1. The only unusual activity last night was a twenty-minute silent outing by June. This is considerably longer than other recent outings. She made two other much shorter departures. Ward made three food deliveries and seems to be using his "wailing" call a lot more lately. June is now looking up through her door as she incubates her eggs. (10:15am)
4-14-98: No sign of an owlet yet. It was an average night with two food deliveries by Ward plus three lone outings by June. June took one of her meals away from the nest and both she and Ward were quite vocal about it. Calls included wailing by Ward, hwu-hwu-hwu, classic hoots and squealing. Her total time away from the nest was about fifteen minutes in the 24-hour period. (10:30am)
4-15-98: Still no sign of a hatchling. For the first time since the first egg was laid thirty days ago, Ward did not show up at the nest last night. He also failed to respond to June's calls this morning. Let's hope that nothing has happened to him. June made her usual two outings last night and is incubating her eggs as normal this morning. Just after settling down after one of her outings, she made a very rapid departure in response to some disturbance that was too faint for OwlCam's microphones. About thirty seconds after she left, a single raccoon could be heard snarling near the nest. It could later be heard walking away through dry leaves near the nest with June's beak snapping clearly audible. It appears that she heard it approaching and went out to drive it away! Raccoons are a major source of nest failure in smaller owls, such as the long-eared owl, but I have not heard of a case of them going into a barred owl's nest. (10:00am)
4-16-98: After a forty-hour absence, Ward returned last night at 10pm. On his first visit, he and June did a lot of hooting, but no food was exchanged. Fifteen minutes later he returned for the first of five food deliveries. The fact that the first three of these deliveries came in one fifteen-minute period suggests that Ward has a food cache to get the family through rough times. There is still no sign of an egg hatching. June has not yet called to Ward this morning and is now staring out her door as she continues to incubate the eggs. (10am) Back To Calendar
4-18-98: June seems to be getting as anxious as some of her fans. She is spending more time poking at and even chewing on the eggs. No results yet. Ward delivered three meals last night: two were handed to June inside the nest and the third was delivered to nearby branches. At midday yesterday, June stuck her head out to stare down a squirrel on her roof. This clearly revealed three solid eggs. Got some great color photos that will appear later. It is a warm spring day and June is now sleeping. (10am) Note that I have added a sound library to the April Activity Calendar.
4-19-98: No sign of hatching. June continued her normal incubating pattern with only about twenty minutes away from the nest in twenty four hours. The second of Ward's two food deliveries came just before sunrise. It was a plump mouse which June downed with a chatter. June is now sleeping. (10:30am)
4-20-98: My apologies to those who saw the false reporting of a hatching last night. There are definitely strange things happening: Two dead mice stored inside the nest for the first time, Ward (or something) making a strange peeping sound from just outside the nest when June leaves, five food deliveries, etc. The three eggs are, however, still eggs. Will let you know when something more definitive happens. (7:45am)
4-20-98: The apology may have been premature. I am now almost certain that the peeping sound that I heard throughout the night is coming from one of the eggs. While the eggs appeared to be in tact from the top earlier today, June is ripping off bits of food and moving them to the area of the eggs (hidden by her body). The peeping sound is stopped or muffled when June presses down on the eggs. It is clearly not coming from her. This may prove to be the longest owlet delivery on record. (10:30am) Back To Calendar
4-24-98: Ward had a great night hunting in spite of the rain. He has started making silent deliveries in which he lands directly in the doorway and passes the prey to June while she remains on the floor. The food pantry was well stocked this morning with at least three mice and one squirrel. June is spending at least fifty percent of her time feeding the very vocal owlets who refuse to shut up even when she tries to brood them. I believe that I am now hearing three owlets, but can't say for sure since they can vary their calls. June will have to either eat an eggshell or move out of the way for me to confirm this. She is now being accompanied by some very loud peeping as she feeds the owlets. (11:30am)
4-25-98: June left the nest for a couple of minutes to meet Ward at 5:25 this morning. It was too dark to get any pictures, but I could clearly see Wally, Theodore, and one unhatched egg. The owlets have grown a little bit and are still snow white. It is possible that the remaining egg was actually the first egg laid and that being left alone in the sub-freezing weather damaged it. It is, however, still possible that it is ok and will hatch in the next couple of days. Ward made three deliveries last night and June looks like she has plenty of food (three mice and one larger unidentified rodent) to get through the day. She is now feeding Wally and Theodore. (11:30am)
4-26-98: Ward had a terrible night hunting last night and was unable to make a single food delivery. He did, however, seem to be all right as he answered June's call from the distance early this morning. This leaves June with only one leftover mouse to get through the day. Since she has previously shown that she can go for forty hours without food, she should be ok. The owlets might not be so understanding. Because she did not leave the nest in daylight, I can't say for sure what has happened to the egg. The owlets, however, sound like they are getting stronger. June has been staring up at the sky for most of the morning in hopes of a late delivery. (10:00am) Back To Calendar
4-28-98: Ward is not keeping up with the growing needs of his family. June and the owlets ran out of food at 4pm yesterday and Ward's next delivery did not come until 10pm. June immediately started chopping it up and feeding it to the owlets. His next delivery came at 5am this morning, and it too was gone thirty minutes later. While wild creatures must get accustomed to irregular meal schedules, the owlets expect a meal every couple of hours and June has been whining for most of the morning. She will be able to help with the hunting when she finishes with her brooding chores, but that is at least a week away. While June has not given up on the third egg, it is still unhatched and will probably remain so. She is again out of food and looking up at the sky in hopes of a daylight delivery. (10:00am)
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