Rosie
Posted: Wed May 16, 2018 12:52 pm
About a month or more ago I noticed the bird house I put up six+ years ago had an owl's face looking outward. Talk about surprise!
We have been watching for a tenant for years without seeing anything. Lots of critters stuck their heads into it, but didn't go in - these included Red Bellied woodpeckers, squirrels, Carolina wrens and others.
Then, during a noisy lawn mowing, Rosie appears. I immediately named her Nosy Rosie, because she stuck her head out when there was something going on in the back yard, and continues to do so. She has supervised mowing, a complete renovation of the back part of the yard where the ditch destroyers did their worst and the excavation of a soon-to-be pond where we plan to put small fish along with a fountain.
By now she likely has chicks - Eastern Screech Owls can have one to eight chicks - because they hatch after about a month. She's now been there more than a month; we guess six weeks. It would be nice to see the chicks but so far they are probably too small to get to the hole on the front of the box. We also think that's why Rosie spends much of her day peering out instead of sitting on the eggs - hatching changed her behavior, we think.
Enough verbiage. Here's Rosie: And here's Kay taking her picture: The box is at the very upper left corner of the second picture just above the CH1 label. The almost nonexistent bump at the top right of the box is Rosie. The hole in the box is about three inches in diameter, so when you look at Rosie's picture you can see her toes at the bottom - that's the whole owl!
If we see chicks we'll try to get a picture of them to post. Stay tuned.
Tom
PS: When your car is in the paint shop you are more easily amused...
We have been watching for a tenant for years without seeing anything. Lots of critters stuck their heads into it, but didn't go in - these included Red Bellied woodpeckers, squirrels, Carolina wrens and others.
Then, during a noisy lawn mowing, Rosie appears. I immediately named her Nosy Rosie, because she stuck her head out when there was something going on in the back yard, and continues to do so. She has supervised mowing, a complete renovation of the back part of the yard where the ditch destroyers did their worst and the excavation of a soon-to-be pond where we plan to put small fish along with a fountain.
By now she likely has chicks - Eastern Screech Owls can have one to eight chicks - because they hatch after about a month. She's now been there more than a month; we guess six weeks. It would be nice to see the chicks but so far they are probably too small to get to the hole on the front of the box. We also think that's why Rosie spends much of her day peering out instead of sitting on the eggs - hatching changed her behavior, we think.
Enough verbiage. Here's Rosie: And here's Kay taking her picture: The box is at the very upper left corner of the second picture just above the CH1 label. The almost nonexistent bump at the top right of the box is Rosie. The hole in the box is about three inches in diameter, so when you look at Rosie's picture you can see her toes at the bottom - that's the whole owl!
If we see chicks we'll try to get a picture of them to post. Stay tuned.
Tom
PS: When your car is in the paint shop you are more easily amused...