**Make sure to see the bonus 'almost perfect' clip starting at 7:34 of this upload 🦉🌛**
Starting about March 10th, dad owl began spending his days closer to the nest than ever before this year. If mom owl laid her eggs starting a few days after entering the nest (Feb. 7th), then the generally accepted range for the first owlet to hatch would be March 8-18. So many of us daily visitors to the nest area theorized that the owls knew it was near time and dad owl started spending his days closer to the nest.
Though while dad owl spent days closer to the nest, there was no noticable changes in mom owl. That is until this past Sunday, March 17th. About 30 minutes before sunrise, dad owl made two flights away and then back to the nest - gone for around 5-10 minutes each time. Once the dawn provided enough light, I was able to record mom owl in the nest being more active than she'd been at this time of day for over a month. Then, although I didn't see him leave again, dad owl then alit on a branch about 15 feet above the side of the trail. And then some impressive hooting commenced. (My apologies that the zoom microphone on my camera appears to have picked up some of my empty stomach rumblings since I skipped breakfast in order to walk by the owl's nest before sunrise 🤪)
The additional clips throughout the day show dad owl being very attentive to any sounds coming close to the nest. As well, mom owl sat up the entire day while for most of the past month she had been laying low and staying barely visible.
The additional clips from March 20-21 also look similar to the behavior of a mom Great Horned Owl feeding a newly hatched owlet - in our case, when filmed from mostly below the nest. In the final clips of this video from March 21, I was able to get a slightly higher vantage point in the afternoon. If you look closely you can see mom owl has her wings spread as if protecting what's underneath. In addition to the stance, her movements look a lot like other Great Horned Owl cams on KZitem which provide a better view into a nest showing the feeding of a newly hatched owlet in more detail:
• Great Horned Owl Feedi...
• Great Horned Owl Mothe...
• Great Horned Owl feeds...
NOTES:
[1]This upload has significantly lower picture quality than my previous videos. This was due to recordings beginning before sunrise on very low light settings as well as use of extended zoom throughout in order to more closely observe their behaviors surrounding hatching time.
[2]Due to loud talking near the camera the clip from ~5:54-6:09 is muted.
[3]From those who kept a journal from last year, the owls are keeping very much to a similar timeline. Owlets should be able to stand and become visible within the next 4-8 days. Additional videos will be uploaded as soon as possible.
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