Blog marathon...tighten your seatbelts!!

My plan here is to cover all sorts of news...important to some, maybe not to others. OK, let's get started. First of all if you remember the other day I was sure we had solved the case of the incredible pain in the A%% squirrels. Well, we were WRONG!! First thing this morning I saw this out the kitchen window. Forgive me for saying this but, why do owls only eat the red squirrels and not the pain in the A%% ones.( for those of you with kids insert your own interpretation of the symbols)

We went for a family visit to Jesse and Amy's on Saturday. I know this will come as a surprise to some of you but, so far I have not gone a full week with out seeing Lukas!! I know shocking isn't it? I can not tell you how much I love that boy ( and of course his parents.) While he was napping I couldn't resist taking a picture of his tootsies. Couldn't you just eat them?

When we first got there Lukas was sitting in his chair playing with his toys. Amy said he actually picked up one of his rings the other day. Please note the little owl on his outfit. We call it his hoot hoot outfit. Aunt Sarah loved playing with him.

She even continued to play with him after he sneezed on her hand!! AHH CHOOOO!

After a quick diaper change and a new outfit he was ready for a little snooze. If you look back in the blogs we had a picture of Lukas with this shirt laid across him and it looked huge. Grandpa is happy that he can wear it, as it is biking season!

Aunt Sarah wouldn't think of putting him down, when she could rock him. Unfortunately, when you rock you get sleepy also.....and....ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ




Next let's cover Dave. Before I address this picture I want to tell you about something that happened down in K-zoo. We all went to Olive Garden for dinner. Dave and Jesse ordered a beer and the waiter said I will need to see both of your IDs!!!!!! After I cleaned out my ears I asked the waiter, with a chuckle in my voice, ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?!? Are you looking at him?? He said he was and he was sorry but, he needed to see it. Dave is a very happy man! OK, now to the picture. Dave must have really missed mowing because he has now mowed the lawn about 6 times in the last 2 weeks. He is very happy it is so green and if you look you can see the owl box.



Seriously is this a man who looks 20 years old?????

Today Hootie was sitting in the sun and drying out. I stood directly under her and took some shots of her preening. She is very tolerant of us walking quite close to her. Once the owlets are closer to leaving the nest that will not be the case.


Here she is looking down at me while doing a little scratching. It was a windy afternoon and she has a good grip on the branch.

I am including a couple of videos so you can see her in action. As I said before it was a windy afternoon so they are a little shaky.

Now I could include a couple of the videos from last year in the nest box, but I didn't want the old stuff in this blog. You see someone I know has accused me of letting my obsession take control. This person suggested that last year I took and sent a picture every time the owls burped, (do owls burp?) She informed me that she only wanted new non- boring owl pictures. So for her.....

The remains of an owl pellet after the rain last night......just for you (insert name here). Now don't take this wrong, I love you!!!

I will include some of the owlets at play in the next blog for everyone.

Again thank you for following along.

Owlet update 4-27-09

We could keep really busy now watching the owls most of the day. I am finding it difficult to take as many pictures as in the past, because over the last few years trees have grown and the camera wants to focus on the branches. I asked Dave if he would trim a few, but he is concerned about getting attacked. Imagine that! I still have a few places I can sit and watch and I will continue to take new pictures. Hootie sitting quite regally near the nest box. She is out of the box more than, in these days. I have been going through the archives and from the behavior we observed I think we are about a week ahead of last year. Dvd's dated the first week of May had her spending a lot more time in the box.

I was able to take this picture from the kitchen window Saturday morning. If you look carefully you can see Hootie sitting on a branch almost directly above the box. Both she and Blowfish stay pretty close and you can hear them communicating with one another. Last night they were together on one branch transferring some dinner and of course the camera was in the house. Oh well, I shall try again.

In or out of the box the parents are very protective. I have mentioned that last year we were fascinated with the sounds and the behaviors we caught on the camera. The first video shows this. I am sorry about the quality but I don't have a lot of fancy schmancy video equipment so I tape off the TV. Hootie was in the box when a squirrel climbed the tree (brave squirrel!!) Listen to the clicking sound she makes and how she spreads her wings out to protect the owlets. I also really love her eyes in this one. On occasion you can hear her making clacking and screeching noises from outside the box. In the past we would hear the sounds and not attribute them to the owls. Once we had the camera we knew where they were coming from.




Dinner time in the box can be very interesting!! Hey, I think it is amazing to see what those little fellows can swollow. I hope you are too. I am sorry for those of you who many find it disturbing. I am including 2 videos of Percy and Ike learning the art of fine dining!
In this one you can see they are learning to peck around the box and just by chance one of them finds some leftovers. I remember when I first watched this I wondered how many wood chips could they eat before they get sick or choked. But, I had to remember they eat everything and anything. I have a few pellets if anyone wants proof!!






This one was really suprising to me. Watch the owlet in the lower left of the pic.......yep he is eating another bird. I was shocked when I first saw what it was. This is why I was conflicted about having the birdfeeder off the deck. I don't mind that they get bluejays and it is too bad they don't get rid of a few of those d#&% crows.



Last night we noticed that Blowfish was sitting right along the road in a tree, so camera in hand I went in search of a clear shot. Instead as I walked past the box I saw Hootie trying to stay dry and out of the rain.......she didn't quite get her whole tail in the box. :) Often as the owlets get bigger she takes longer to get settled in. She doesn't just fly in she stops at the door and steps in carefully. That is unless the nest is being threatened, then you would be amazed how fast she can get in!!!

I have to get somethings accomplished today, and will post more tomorrow. I will look up some video of the owlets having some fun in the nest box, so.......

I guess at this point I should say.....

"THAT'S ALL FOLKS"

My Day with Lukas!

I need to start this blog out with a video. Lukas was, without a doubt thrilled to have his grandma watching him. He was very happy and chatty. If you listen carefully you can hear him saying "I love you grandma" ....YES you can. I can hear it as plain as day! Pay very close attention and I know you too will hear it.

Aunt Sarah and Jesse have decided on a "nickname" for Lukas. They both call him Mr. Cheeks and from the first 2 pictures I am sure you can tell why! They are without a doubt great nuzzling cheeks.

So, seriously is there anything cuter that a naked baby? I didn't think so! Lukas loves his bath time and for the sake of modesty he is sporting his washcloth.

I love the look on this little face. I think it needs a caption...any ideas?


Who could resist a video (or picture with buttons). He was telling stories, and I am not sure they were all true. He has almost outgrown his little tub already. He still found plenty of splashing room and I had the wet clothes to prove it.




Both Amy and Jesse were a little leery when I showed up with a pair of "babylegs" leg warmers for Lukas. Hey, what can I say I read too many blogs with cute little kids and they all had them. But, come on don't you think he was really rockin' the froggy legs. He Loved them!


Grandma do you think I could quit holding up this blanket? It's a little heavy on my head.

OK, fine but I am only holding it up for a few more minutes and then I am giving up.

Lukas has found his fingers. I told Amy that she is lucky it isn't still winter or his whole face would be chapped. He does get his fingers in his mouth then he makes the best gaggy face and spits them out!

As you can see from the following, Lukas has taken up walking. He does need a little assistance from mommy but all in all he is really doing well. I am sure the frog "babylegs" are helping him. Once again I had a great time with all of my awesome Vicksburg family. It is so nice to see them all together and loving this little fellow. I have more to share but will save them for the next post.

Thanks for staying in touch with us!

Hooked!

OK, so I will admit it I am hooked. What am I hooked on? BLOGS, yep that's right blogs. I know that I came into this world of blogs later than most. Sarah talked about them a few years ago but, I never knew? I love them, love reading about all our friends and family, but I also love reading about people I don't know. I check for updates in the morning and then in the evening, and I am disappointed if someone has not updated in awhile. (hint hint) Dave has his biking blogs and he enjoys reading them also. So given the fact that I really don't have anything important to post about until after I go visit Lukas, but don't want to disappoint, I will leave you with this info. Dave is very proud of the fact that his lawn is so green already and even mowed it Saturday. He said he wanted it to have nice lines.

What can I say??!!

More importantly I hate that the squirrels and raccoons keep eating my bird seed. We have been talking for awhile about raising the feeder post so they cannot reach it. Well, this weekend we did and as you can see it worked. At least for the squirrels. It is amazing how much less food you go through when it is just the birds!!

So, I bet you can't believe I was able to go on this long about NOTHING! Stay tuned for more family and owl updates they are coming soon!!

Wings

The other evening Dave got the opportunity to do some flying!! One of his co-workers, Walt Clawson, built a couple planes in his basement and wanted to take Dave and a couple other co-workers, Scott and Brian, up for a flight. I said fine as Dave has good life insurance. (What, is that mean for me to say??) This is the 2 seater that they flew in.

Here are Scott and Walt checking out the one seater.


Hopefully all the assembly is DONE!!!

Getting ready for takeoff.


This is Walt and Brian getting all settled in. Now when I suggested that Dave take the camera along I thought that maybe I would get a lot of awesome flying shots to post? OK, so as far as I can tell he did not even take the camera up with him, as there are NO pictures from up above!! I also wondered why he didn't ask one of the other 3 to take a picture of him with or in the plane! Dave would like to thank Walt for a great night.



So now for the other wings I have to talk about. We now hear and see the owls numerous times everyday. this is Hootie making sure I keep my distance.

Just a few minutes after I took the last picture she went back into the nest box. Usually when you walk down the drive she is either sitting like this or in a tree very nearby.

Now before you scroll down.....the next shots are from inside the box from last year. Those who followed last year have seen these before , but if your new let me explain. It takes a lot of food to feed growing owlets. At this stage Hootie will forgo food for herself in favor of the babies. While she is sitting on the eggs she bulks up. As long as Blowfish is hunting she will cache food in the box. We woke up one morning to what I called carnage in the nest box. That night Blowfish must have been REALLY busy as we found 5 rabbits, and a chipmunk in the box. Most are headless as the owlets can't digest the skull bones at this stage. So you have been warned.

We wondered at this point how the heck she could maneuver around the box with all this and 2 owlets. We were also happy at this point that it is a black and white camera. I thought you might like to know how big she is: she is about 22 inches high, with a 48" wingspan and weighs about 3 lbs. They are very light weight as they have hollow bones.

This is Ike or Percy last year in the box. They would peck around at leftovers in the box and sometimes get lucky enough to get a small piece. At this stage their beaks are not strong enough to get pieces themselves. The cache of food lasted maybe 3 days that time. She would sometimes bury them under the wood chips for later feedings.

Hootie picks apart smaller pieces for the owlets. Now I want you to know there were a few times the pieces didn't seem that small to me and we worried watching them as they ate. Sometimes we would get ourselves all worked up and then remember this is nature and it happens all the time, we just don't see it.

The owlets playing together. They will pick and preen one another.

Just a video of one of the owlets finding the balance.



This is one of Hootie sitting in the same tree as the day earlier. She has been sunning herself in this spot the last couple of days. I think this day she sat for an hour, preening, scratching, hooting and sleeping. The blue jays you hear were dive bombing her. I had hoped to get a shot of that but, no. It amazes me that she can sit there and tolerate them.

Anyone who would like to e-mail Dave and encourage him to PLUG in the DVD player feel free to do so. Now you may ask why I just don't do it myself!!???!!??? Let me just say if you could see the jumble of cords for the antenna ( yes we live in the stone age) converter box, DVD player, box camera, and various cord for watching the regular camera on the tube you would understand!!!

Patience is a virtue!!!

Ok so why that title?...because this is going to be a long blog. Feel free to read the parts you want and move on but, please stay with it. This is Jesse and Dave checking out Jesse's new bike. As some of you may remember he had a little mishap with his old one. Working at a bike shop has it's advantages as you can replace your old one with a new one faster and with a nicer bike than the average person!! Dave is very jealous! Jes rode his bike over from Amy's grandma's house for our Easter dinner.

A week or so ago Sarah channeled her inner teenager and went to a New Kids on the Block concert. It must be noted that she was obsessed with them when she was a young girl( she is sooooo old now). She had all the memorabilia she could get her hands on ( they were her Monkee's, or Beatles). She still has her Joey doll,with a painted face, thanks to a fight with Jesse back in the day!! Here she is sporting her new New Kid's shirt.

It was the first Easter for our Lukas.

He was really stylin' in his new Easter dud's, that his Nana O bought for him. I took his cute shoes and socks off because he has such cute feet and because he loves it when you raspberry his feet.

Not the best G-ma in the world as the Easter bunny left somethings, but they wouldn't fit in the basket so Lukas just got to hold a empty bucket!! I must say he is a real cutie in his little man hat.

Sarah is totally in LOVE with Lukas, and Lukas LOVES his Auntie Sarah. Here they are having some laughs in the living room.

Even at the dinner table Aunt Sarah has fun with him. As you can hear she would do anything to make him happy.......Mommy's little piggy!

Next on the agenda the owls. Today was a nice weather day and while I was going to check the mail I noticed Blowfish right over head. He sat sunning himself and never minded that I was right under him. He was probably 40 foot up the tree and I really was standing almost directly under him.

He really seemed to be enjoying the sunny day.

I couldn't find my tripod and it was a little shaky trying to zoom in on him but, I was able to get this shot. I would wait for him to look at me straight on and by the time I took the shot he would turn his head. I really think he is so handsome.

Ok, so I must admit something!!! I thought it was Blowfish sitting in the tree. That was until SHE flew away and they both started hooting. That is when I realized that it was Hootie sitting in the tree. That must mean that the owlets are a little bigger that I thought as she usually would not leave the nest for that long when they were tiny. After spotting Blowfish in the tree to the east of the house I realized my mistake. He is a little smaller than she is. So, here is a picture of Blowfish watching me.

And this is without any zoom. The black box is a bat house Dave built a couple years ago. He is trying to built us a nature retreat!!

The following are some of the videos I got of the owls today. The first is Blowfish , AKA Hootie :) The second one is after he/she flew away and you can hear the two having a conversation. The next one is when she returned to the nest box.

WHEW!!!! Aren't you glad that you have reached the end of this one??? I do hope you enjoyed it though. I warned everyone awhile ago that I was a little obsessive about my owls.....And now I am also a lot obsessed with my grandson. Hope you keep reading and seeing both.

THANK YOU!!!

OWLETS!! We have some!

So last night we were watching the tube and we heard Blowfish in the woods hooting. We went to the deck window to listen, and from the nest box we could hear her screech back at him. Of course we had camera ready and sat for quite a while waiting to see him fly to the nest. I give up!!! Now as you all know ( because I bring it up ALL the time) the camera in the box is not working. But, we can hear through it so Dave turned it on. We could hear Hootie screeching in the nest box. About 5 min. pass and Dave can see Hootie flying out of the box. It was then that I could hear........OWLETS. They make a weak chirping/screeching sound. I am pretty sure we have a least 2 as we could hear 2 different sounds at the same time.

No clue how long they have been hatched. All I can do is go by the pictures from last year. Here are 2 of those pictures. They are really scrawny at this time. Yes, the one below is of 2.

In just a couple weeks they will look like this. I really don't think (at least I hope) they are not this big yet!

So here are a couple pictures with buttons ( again for Sami ) and (because I think that is a cute way to say) videos. The last one is just a black screen because that is all there is. I know I am such a nerd that I tape a blank TV screen. I am doing this very fast this morning so I am not sure what is on them , as I did not preview the blog.

If you all remember Dave got all the info on building the nest at Owlcam.com. I went there again last night to see if maybe his owls had returned. They had not been back since all the owlets were killed a few years ago. Sadly they had not returned yet. It is a very informative site and I ordered a dvd of his experience. I will attach a link later of some great shots they took of there owls Ward and June!!

We are now looking for names for this years owlets. We would love for you all to participate.

#2 post of the day...D#@% crows

Me again!!. I was just feeding the birds and heard the D@^# crows. I noticed that they were chasing the owl. Luckily the camera was just inside the door so I grabbed it a got these videos. Sorry they are not great, but when you only have a few seconds and are trying to follow birds!!!! The D@^% crows are forever harassing the owls. The bird being chased is the owl.

I followed them to the same tree across the driveway that he was in yesterday. I was a little surprised that the D@*# crow stayed around. Usually if you walk near them they take off. This one must have been very intent on bugging my owl!!!

Promised update!

Ok, so first of all I know I should be blogging about our first Easter with Lukas, right?!! I most certainly will do that tomorrow. I had promised a owl update so here goes. I know this is not an owl, but we also have a pair of Pileated woodpeckers nesting in the woods behind the house. They sure do make a LOT of noise.

So, Saturday we were doing some yard work and when Dave was headed down the drive we saw Blowfish fly from tree to tree near the nest box. I told Dave to keep an eye on him while I went to the house to get the camera. We noted that he had a vole or mouse in his talons, so we assumed he was trying to bring Hootie lunch. As I got closer he flew a little farther away and so as not to disturb them we left the area with no picture. Yesterday we were sitting on the deck and Dave saw him fly from the box to a tree across from the drive. This time I did get a picture. He sat in this tree the rest of the afternoon and didn't at all mind when we walked very near him.

I decided that I would check the archives and see what was happening in the box last year. One thing I will say is that after watching the goings on the last few years we were pretty sure we had eggs in the box. With the cameras last year and the books we have read we sort of feel like we know some of there behaviors. Prior to eggs, he would stay farther away from the nest in order not to draw any attention to it. Once there were eggs in the box he stays a little closer to protect the box. Here is a picture of Hootie preening in the box.

It was last year April 2nd that we first noticed a egg. Needless to say we were excited. It is a four week process from the time they lay an egg till it hatches. We were not sure the exact date she laid the eggs, and I said eggs because a few days later we saw a second egg.
On the 28th of April we got a our first view of an owlet. I promise that I will get Dave to hook up the dvd player because I know I have more video of this time in the box.

Here are a few videos that I had stored on the external drive. The first one is of Blowfish bringing a midnight snack. He will hoot in the woods and she sort of makes a cooing sound to let him know it is OK to come to the nest. They transfer food and sometimes will even brush beaks as he leaves. They seem to have a conversation as he leaves the food. The screech you hear, she would make every time he came to the nest.

This is after the hatching and she would sit like this wings out to protect the owlet. He must have just brought something for her to eat. You have to remember that all the happenings in the box were new to us so the commentary you hear should be forgiven. We were very excited to be able to watch and hear everything. If you listen closely you will also hear a little clicking sound. She made that noise whenever she would come or go from the nest. It seemed that the sound is made to make a connection to the owlets.



This is the video I took the other night. We were just settling in for the evening and we heard this through the windows. I wish it would warm up, as this spring has been quite cold and in the past we could have the windows open and heard more interaction. I went to the back door and decided to just hold the camera outside in hopes of hearing them again. This is the sound he makes when he has food to bring to the box. Please be patient as the sound is near the end.

Like I said earlier I will review the dvd's in hopes of bringing you more videos. I know I have some great shots and hopefully will be able to give you a little more insight into the owls behavior. We found it fascinating.