What's Happening?

We have been trying to figure out what's going on at the Nicasio Owl Box. Posts have been made on the facebook page, I have decided to copy and paste those here; followed by my findings so far. 

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  DeeDee Fabris Did they nest somewhere else and just stop by????

  
  
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  Karen Resch Seems like odd behavior - no clutch this season?

  
  
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  Bonnie Zedonis DeeDee I am wondering the same thing. will post more later. I am going to repost from Anne Ardillo, below this. (If I can)

  
  
• Anne Ardillo Hi all, from the little we are hearing, seems like S&Ps lack of egg laying is typical this year..few reports of owls in boxes although we have lots of boxes so this may not represent the whole picture. Great Horned Owl nests seem to be down this year as well.

  
  
• Anne Ardillo We had a dry January and February but that's not too strange..some late rains in March and April..not unusually warm or cold as far as I can tell. The people who are monitoring nests further North in Sonoma and Napa counties said the hawks are doing fine, some on eggs, others just starting, fewer Great Horned Owl nests this year. I don't know anyone doing prey analysis so its hard to tell what the rodent population is doing. One thought, if you are sure this is S&P, she may be too old although you all probably have stats on the oldest Barn Owl breeding and it MAY not be Pepper at all??? I wish I could give you more definitive answers. I will probably go and stick a camera in one of our long standing productive boxes and see what's up. It does feel a bit empty not having them to watch.

  
  
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  Bonnie Zedonis It was very windy last night April 15th, Salt was here at 9:23pm for 8 min. and that was it for the whole night!

  
  
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  Anne Ardillo Hi Bonnie, another thought is they may be using another box/cavity/building ledge since there are a few in the area. (esp if we stop seeing Pepper)

  
  
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  Bonnie Zedonis Thank you Anne. Was wondering about this. Especially since the last few times Pepper was seen, she would stay for a short time. Yesterday was the longest. They have been mating once or twice on the nights seen together here. I am going to check my notes and see what I can figure out. Get back to all in a bit.

   

   

  Okay more was posted but the above was most pertinent I think. Everything normal as far as courtship, etc: except Pepper removing rodents from the box! Now here are my findings:

   

  3/18/13: - Salt with first gift in the box, a gopher - BUT Pepper leaves the nest with it!

  3/18/13 - Salt delivers another gopher at 6:23am (PST) but Pepper never showed up. Next night Salt removes said gopher from box. They mated 17 times (7 of them in the box)

  - After this Pepper spends time in the box, Salt delivers rodents and she consumes them. 

   

  3/23/13 Salt delivers a gopher to her, while she is inside the box; he leaves and she follows with gopher in beak.

   

  3/27/13: Pepper spends day IN the box - but something makes her bolt out of the box @ 2:05pm.

  She did return that night and everything back to normal. Lot of mating, etc. Pepper no longer stays during the day!!

   

  3/29-30/13: We hear GHO's pretty close - once they moved away Salt came by, Pepper did not.

  3/30-30/13: GHO's (female close by) Salt shows up after they move on, but Pepper doesn't

   

  3/31-4/1/13: Salt is here and Pepper shows up for 15 minutes. - Later she returns for 7 min.

   

  4/2-3/13: No owls

  4/3-4/13: No live stream

   

  4/4-5/13: Salt here twice: total 12 min. Pepper does NOT show up

  4/5-6/13: GHO's in distance S&P @ 12:30am - Pepper stays for 22 min. - Returns @ 2:35am and she stays for approx. 1hour (mating once) She seems to be chasing something away the last two nights.

   

  4/6-7/13: 7:52pm hear the GHO's - No owls till 1:33am (Salt) and he chases something. 2:30am Pepper here and they mate two times, she stays for 1hour and 20min. She returns at 5:03am, stays for 9 min.

   

  4/7-8/13: - 8:48pm Pep here (mate) - 3 min. stay

  4/8-9/13: - 12:45am Pepper (mate) - 4 min. stay

  4/9-10/13: GHO's heard, mostly in distance almost all night. Salt comes after they move out at 12:10am Pepper here for 1 min. She returns at 1:43, they mate, she stays 13 min. and again at 3:09am for 5 min.

  
  

  4/10-11/13: Very Windy...No owls all night

  4/11-12/13: No Live stream video

  4/12-13/13: Salt here, Pepper arrives at 12:07am, she stays 7 min. returns at 12:55am (they mate) she stays 50 min., again at 3:11am stays for 1hour and 40 min.

  
  

  4/14-15/13: Windy and gusty - Salt here at 9:23 for 5 min. and nothing after that for the night.

   

  Salt was here more than what I posted, I was just wanting you to know the times that Pepper spent here.

  
  

  Is Pepper possibly nesting somewhere else nearby??