For the last two weeks I've heard Owls nearby every night. There are two distinct sound patterns. The first is a single long screech. This sound is very distinctive and I bet that with careful study could be used to identify individual owls.The second pattern is a prolonged rythmic clicking. The screeching comes from nearby high trees, the clicking seems to happen when owls are airborn.
Sooo- now we have turned the Owl Cams back on and we are waiting to see if any of our nocturnal visitors sets up housekeeping in our Owl Barn, now entering a third year of viewing!

Bob

Owls clearly remain in the area. Last evening I could hear the faint strains ( sounds a bit like Ehhh-Eh) of a nesting female calling her mate. I'm guessing this originated within a half mile.We have not spotted Barney or Bettye since she left the nest. I plan to repair the exterior camera and reopen the movement sensor in both it and the interior camera so we can detect nocturnal visit.

Owls are still in the area. On a walk at dusk we could hear the distinctive call around 730pm. We have a large number of Eucalyptus palms and citrus nearby, the seem to favor tall perches. I notice blackbirds harassing hawks during the day but never at dusk or after dark.

No sign that the owlets fell out of the box. We have a theory- there seemed to be fewer visits from the male than last year and we wonder if some misfortune befell him. If the male had not been making food dropoffs, I assume that hunger would drive her from the nest to hunt. Oddly she never seemed to call out to the male as she did last year. After last year's brood arrived she called out almost continuously- but not at all this year. The external camera was knocked off it's mount so I was unable to see if the male perched on the roof as he had in the recent past. We do have a motion sensor on the internal camera which early on had been capturing all movement in the box and e mailing stills to one of our PCs- will check and see if there is any record of their disappearance. I wonder how long chicks could withstand temperatures in the 50s and 60s if the mother owl was out hunting?

Last evening at 11pm there appeared to be three owlets snugly nestled beneath the mother owl.
The female had made several excursions out of the box- perhaps hunting?  When we awoke this morning the female owl was in the owl box but all three owlets had vanished. The female was busy devouring a freshly killed rodent.
I will check around the box to see if they might have fallen out. No one has posted any sighting of a predator, nor has anyone reported seeing the male drop off food.

Two Owlets in the Granite Hills Owl House- spotted both as the Female took a stretch!

It is difficult to see now while the night mode camera is on but the audio is quite clear - I hear two distinct " voices" , wonder if a second owlet has hatched!?