Four Eggs!

After last year’s tragedy with the bee swarm, I was greatly concerned that our Eastern Screech Owl pair would not return, but they are such dedicated parents that they have indeed begun working on another family. They are using as their nest box the more recently built owl house that has a camera in it. And this year, instead of the owl cam showing squirrels inside, it actually shows the making of an owl family! Yesterday the camera verified that there are 4 eggs inside. To my knowledge, this is the largest family they’ve started, assuming all the eggs hatch.

Mama Owl spends most of her time on the eggs, and I believe Papa Owl is bringing her food. In this image, she moved up to the doorway but did not exit, leading me to believe that a cockroach pizza was just delivered. FYI, this is night-time view and thus black and white — at some point I hope to share colorful photos of the family’s progress. Happy!