Separation anxiety
After months of daily observation and more than a little tending, Widget now looks like an adult owl.Beautiful feathers, large luminous eyes, and the steady gaze that must have inspired the "Wise Owl" legends- all the hallmarks of a fully developed raptor. So how soon will Widget leave the nest and join the unmeasured legion of never observed nocturnal predators? New terms have entered our vocabulary. "Branching" is what owl enthusiasts call the stage of moving from the box to nearby bushes and trees. Speaking of enthusiasts- a word of thanks to the dedicated group of enthusiasts who have kept an eye on Widget in various time zones so that a quick stop on U Stream every morning has given us daily feeding reports.Shall we call it d day- for departure day?

Headed toward empty nest
Widget seems to be maturing quickly. At night he prances around in the Owl Box, flaps his wings, displaying gorgeous adult feathers, and loudly sounds off, we presume to call his parents to bring food. The UStream video chat feature is keeping us nicely informed about nocturnal activities like feeding- but egad, how is it that there are viewers at 0230? Is owl watching an insomniac's domain?
Have heard the next phase is " branching"- apparently the young owls will hop out of the box to nearby branches- and then back into the box again? There seems to be  a lot of " pouncing"- he/she jumps on items in the box with talons out, which we suppose to be hunting practice. We have some food set aside for Widget in the freezer in case the parents stop showing up.

What to do when the food runs short. We have taken to recording the nights to see if Widget is getting enough food.Most nights, a parent brings food.Rabbits were often seen in the first months.Rats and ice have been the most frequent drop offs in recent weeks.One night no food was brought in, at least as far as we could tell. We began to fret that with inadequate food, Widget might dwindle....so off to the pet store. A local reptile supply shop provided fresh rats and mice. So how does one deliver fresh frozen rodents to an immature owl? I thought about climbing up ( not easy with the owl box mounted on a tall skinny 4x4). Pitching mice is a stretch- the little door would be hard to hit even if the nearby trees weren't blocking the pitch path. Long story short- a long handled aluminum pole with a small fork taped to the end. Seems now like a mouse is a mouse- the white store bought mice disappear in one huge gulp just like field mice. Down the hatch widget!