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!?

33 days after the first egg was seen an owlet emerged from its shell last night.We were able. to first see a hole in one egg, and motion actually inside the shell. The chick emerged and appears vigorous.The mother owl attended to the chick, appearing to preen it. The egg shell was consumed ( didn't think about that last year!) Mother owl was briefly out of the box, then returned.
We are not sure if the first egg to arrive is the source of the first owlet because it hasn't been possible to keep track of which egg is which. Apparently the first hatched has a survival advantage over the later hatched.Food supply does not seem to be an issue so far.There has been substantial heat (90s) for the past two afternoons, prediction is for cooler weather through the rest of the week.

A hatch is in progress! We can see an owlet pecking its way out of an egg.

Well over 90 in East county San Diego today. No problem keeping eggs warm! If egg #1 is going to hatch it should be pretty soon. I wonder what happens to unhatched eggs?

On the countdown for a hatch!

Warm weekend, lots of movement in the owl box. These were captured on an iPad.

Bettye is very active today.She usually sleeps in the daytime but for reasons unclear she has been up and about all morning, very alert and attentive to every sound. Peered out of the box, Connie could see her without the camera.

Sleepy Owl!

The last three days have been steady and calm in the owl box. The female has stayed with her eggs almost constantly; the male visits in the evenings, still mating, bringing in food. The female seems to call to the male intermittently, just at night. The clicking sounds I've heard the owls make when flying near each other do not seem to be used around the box.
Last year ants invaded the nest and I've taken steps to keep them away from the box- none are visible this year so far. Bees are swarming elsewhere in the La Mesa area ( is this the time when new hives are formed?), but fortunately they don't seem interested in the owl box now.

Looks as though this year's clutch will be thee eggs. I have heard that some females produce as many as seven. Rabbits and rodents seem to be the main food sources. No more bee swarms have been in or near the nest.An upgraded Ustream version is in place, hopefully ending some interruptions in the UStream video feed.

Three Owl Eggs as of 4/14/13

Developments to date for 2013:
We have two cameras for the Granite Hills Owl Box, an external camera mounted on a nearby palm tree and an internal camera mounted facing into the box. Both can be set to capture still photos, triggered by motion.
Several weeks back we saw the first evidence of owl visits- brief fly ins.Then the external camera began picking up night time  perching on the roof of the box by two individuals. We've subsequently seen a breeding pair in the box. As of this morning there are two eggs being incubated. The male has been dropping off food nightly and the food seems to be stockpiled when not consumed by the female. At one point a small swarm of bees appeared on camera ( we have a microphone in the box and could also hear the buzzing) but fortunately they seem to have buzzed off. About a week ago I was visually checking the box @0730 and was startled to see one owl perched on a nearby palm tree, and it was being harassed by at least two other types of birds.  This perching in broad daylight lasted about ten minutes after which the owl flew into the palm foliage and the harassment stopped. We have heard that  barn owls mate for life and that breeding pairs return year after year to the same box, but our imaging system isn't high resolution enough to allow us to make certain this years pair is the same as last year's pair.Last year there were four eggs in the box, but only one chick survived ( with a little help- I put some supplemental food into the box with a gadget I rigged)- and if I catch any rodents soon in my garden traps, they may well wind up being a supplemental food source too.
For may years I've noticed cyclical appearances of rabbits in our neighborhood- many individuals nibbling lawns in the spring, followed by scant or no visits by summer. Apparently the owls do prey on them ( we saw them brought to the box and consumed) so one reason for the cycle seems linked to the owl predation.

Barney and Bettye are back. It has been about 13 months since eggs were laid in the box last year so we wonder if timing normally varies this much. I wonder if eggs produced in the near future will subject owlets to heat stress. Also wonder what if anything we could do to promote a higher survival rate than last year ( 1/4 survived to adulthood). Saw on owl perching nearby on the earl am sunlight, beautiful to behold.

Barney and Bettye return

We have a mating pair of owls again inhabiting our owl house. Check out GraniteHillsOwls on UStream- they seem to arrive around 0730 Pacific time and are in and out throughout the evening, especially around 11pm.