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?