Adventures with Mel and Syd

Still not sure when to catch the first of the nights arrivals. The owls have spent the past several weeks arriving to the nest site right on time. Generally the owls fly in about 8:25-8:30p PST

1:20am this morning viewers saw perhaps the same Opossum we saw a week or so ago go into the prey box. It spent over 15 minutes inside and almost unseen as it dined. Some thought perhaps it was a large rat or a ferret.
This was the only screen capture our mod NightOwlet was able to get of the critter.

From Wikipedia -Opossum's are Didelphimorphs and are opportunistic omnivores with a very broad diet. Their diet mainly consists of carrion and many are killed on highways when scavenging for roadkill. They are also known to eat insects, frogs, birds, snakes, small mammals, slugs, and earthworms. Some of their favorite foods are fruits, and they are known to eat avocados, apples, clementines, and persimmons. Their broad diet allows them to take advantage of many sources of food provided by human habitation such as unsecured food waste (garbage) and pet food. Ferrets are obligate carnivores. The natural diet of their wild ancestors consisted of whole small prey, i.e., meat, organs, bones, skin, feathers, and fur. Ferrets have short digestive systems and quick metabolism, so they need to eat frequently.

We had 3 owls again at the prey box and as kanga mention last night - kangawatch: "As I mentioned last night we are alternating nights with only a few treats (go out and look for more yourselves) and then a night with a few more the next ... gradually all nights will become the "I'm still hungry" type."