Owls

We have been excited about the owls and the new camera in the nest box. Excited when we found there were 2 eggs. Even more excited when we found there were 3. ( I would have posted a pic but, that would require me to find it on the other camera disc :) we kept a close watch on the nest, as close as can be with all that has been happening. We have been kept awake with all the noise Hootie and Blowfish have been making. Also, we stressed over the fact that Hootie seemed to spend very LITTLE time in the box. 

Yesterday I noticed the eggs were moved around and something didn't look right. Later in the afternoon I noticed shells in the box....and one of the other eggs looked damaged...:( My hope was that she sensed something wrong and destroyed the eggs herself. They will do that and then clean the shells from the nest. Last night we are still hearing them and they are still hanging near the nest box.

Sadly this morning I checked the box again and as you can see there is only one egg left. It is hard to tell for sure but it looks damaged also!!! :( We are really sad about this turn of events.

Pretty sure that some type of predator made it's way into the box. I wish we had connected the DVD player so we would know what happened. We are hoping that they will lay a second batch. Again, I read they will do that if it is early enough. Normally once a nest has been invaded they will leave and may not come back.  Fingers crossed at this point. It will be really tough to not have owlets to share this year, especially since Lukas was soooooo excited to follow them!!