Eastern Screech Owl Babies! - 01 Jun 2023

After watching an Eastern Screech Owl adult sticking its head out of the box daily for several weeks now I was convinced that we had eggs / hatchlings here at Brownton Abbey. Then, four days ago, the box appeared empty, both day and night, with no sign of activity. I had suspected that perhaps the young had fledged and the family had abandoned the box.

So, on 31 May 2023 I grabbed the ladder and hauled it into the back of the Quinlan Prairie and attempted to remove the box to inspect the contents. I first put my hand into the opening hoping to hear a hiss but got nothing. I then removed the retaining nuts and gently lifted the box off the pole. As I was lowering it to the top of the ladder I saw two ear tufts near the opening and immediately knew that there were still occupants inside. I very gently replaced the box on top of the pole and quietly tightened the nuts to secure it. I then quietly retreated with the ladder. At 9:55 pm I spotted two tiny heads sticking out of the box that verified that we had babies!

This afternoon, at approximately 5 pm I noticed movement inside the box (using binoculars inside the house). One of the adults popped its head out and looked around for a bit. I grabbed the 600/4 lens and grabbed a few images before it ducked back inside. 

I then decided to go grab the spotting scope and digiscoping camera / remote and set up watch from the back deck. At 6:55 pm I noticed movement inside the box again. One of the adults was peering out of the box from inside. 

At 7:10 pm I spotted one of the hatchlings working up the nerve to look out. 

But, before it could do anything it was pushed aside and one of the adults (we'll call Dad) popped its head out and tried to wake up and adjust to the late afternoon sunlight. Looking groggy, he looked around for a bit before settling down to wait for dusk.

Since it was starting to get late I was going to try to record a video but I was getting an overheating warning from the camera. So, I set up interval shooting (1 frame every 15 seconds for the next 1.5 hours) so that I could monitor the box while I watch Pitch Perfect on Netflix. :)

At about 8:45 I grabbed my binoculars to monitor the LCD viewfinder on the back of the camera from inside the house and watched as Dad flew off to begin hunting. The opening remained visible until 8:53 pm when one of the hatchlings popped its head out to look around.

At 8:54 pm the second hatchling popped its head out of the box!

At 8:55 pm the second adult (we'll call Mom) pushed the young ones aside and took over lookout.

At 9:20 pm Mom flew off to start hunting. Almost immediately one of the hatchlings appeared in the box. 

 As the young peered around the parents started arriving at the box every 2-3 minutes with food (I suspect insects, moths, rodents) that they would deposit in the hole and fly off.

By 9:25 pm it was dark enough that I had to reduce magnification on the scope and bump ISO from 6400 to 25,800. Even at this high ISO I was only getting 0.5" exposures at f/2.5 on the camera. Still, I managed to capture some images of the young, and even the parents coming to the box. By 9:30 pm the images were dark and grainy enough that I converted them to Black and White. Incidentally, the Denoise AI in Lightroom did a wonderful job of removing the noise from the images and generate very nice output.

It was now dark enough at 9:45 that I could barely see anything through the scope, so I packed it in for the evening. I'm elated to be able to see and record the young ones. Last year at this time I was able to see one hatchling, so the parental breeding success is improving.

With any luck I might be able to see them leave the box this year...