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.
If the owlets perished , Betty would have consumed them.. Sad! Perhaps you could do some nesting box restorations for next time.. If food is plenty , they may lay a double clutch. They're many good box designs on the web. Good Luck!
ReplyDeleteSometimes they aren't consumed right away. In one box I watched, the female piled up 2 owlets in the corner and left them there. Any way to check the box if she's not in there, or get a good look with your high resolution image from home to see if anything's there? I swear it looked like something was in the back left corner early this morning.
ReplyDelete