SNN (ScrollingNetworkNews) ✿ ✿ Our Mel and Sydney returned to their nesting box with plenty of bonding occurring..but after 2.5 months of Sydney in the box from Dec 2013 to mid Feb 2014, the lack of prey gifts from Mel ( perhaps due to the severe and historic drought underway in California)and they have forgone the nesting process this year as many other raptors ✿ Compared to other owls of similar size, the Barn Owl has a much higher metabolic rate, requiring relatively more food. Pound for pound, Barn Owls consume more rodents – often regarded as pests by humans – than possibly any other creature. ✿ We remind viewers that sometimes owlets may not survive - the parents will dispose of things in "The Owl Way" -viewer discretion is advised, this is nature and the "Owl way". ✿ ~ ✿ “Animals, like us, are living souls. They are not things. They are not objects. Neither are they human. Yet they mourn. They love. They dance. They suffer. They know the peaks and chasms of being.” ― Gary Kowalski, The Souls of Animals ✿ Each species is a masterpiece, a creation assembled with extreme care and genius." ~ E.O. Wilson

Sunday, March 4, 2012

"HOOT and HOLLA" ARE BACK!

This is year two of Hoot and Holla returning to their nesting box that was  installed almost 3 years ago!

You can imagine how excited they were when Holla came back this year.
What is so amazing is Holla arrived in the owl box and laid her first egg the exact same day as she did last year, she arrived on February 10th and laid her first egg on February 17th, two years in a row, talk about being on a schedule!
Because of what we know about barn owl behavior, we can be 99% positive it is Holla who returned, even though these wild owls have not been tagged.  Barn owls will usually mate for life and once they have claimed an owl nesting box as “their own” other owls will not use it.  If, in fact, the female survives, she will keep coming back to the same box year after year.
So not only were we excited about having barn owls again, we were really excited that Holla survived!
Thank all of you who support Hoot and Holla and the babies and their beautiful Garden
to view their cam, click on the link below
View Hoot and Holla
The Water Conservation Garden • 12122 Cuyamaca College Drive West • El Cajon California 92019
Open daily, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is by suggested donation.
She is brooding 4 eggs