July 2010 : Molly's back again with a whole new brood! Thank you, Carlos and Donna Royal.
June : Bye, bye, babies
May 25 - And Wesley has left the building! If you're watching tonight as I type this, that's Wesley flailing around in front of the outdoor cam, as the others look on. They will all be back inside tomorrow during the day for naps if the last few days is anything to go on.
May 23 - Wes the last owlet not to have flown yet, still in the box. Max the eldest has made her first kill.
May 18 - Bumped up again. Two months old now, two of the four of them have been out on the perch outside the owlbox at night and one has so far made it to the roof and back. First real flight any time now, likely at night. Wes still has his little mohawk of baby feathers. Aw.
April 21 - Bumped to keep it from falling off the bottom of the page. Updates in comments.
It takes 10 seconds or so to load. Original stream here.
Mar. 21, 8am Having just polished off the better part of a large rat, mom has a good clean and settles back on her clutch of five eggs, one of which has a small opening on the top and peeping can be heard.
With thanks to my friend Constance for sending me this.
4pm One owlet hatched, four more to go. Mom carefully washed him and ate the shell. At night the webcam owners switch to a black and white webcam, colour will resume with daylight.
6pm Well that was interesting. I guess the male calls to her on his return to the nest. She suddenly got noisy and a few seconds later the male flew in, mounted her enthusiastically for about 3 seconds, and then off he flew again. Mom rearranges chick and eggs, goes back to sleep.
Midnight Male delivered another rat which mom promptly stashed off in the corner. Chick already seems twice the size he was when he was born 8 hours ago. Mom stands up and carefully pats him from time to time with her huge - relative to his size anyway - talons. Mom scissorhands.
With her long legs extended she suddenly assumes a surprisingly human body proportion. I'm now sitting here drawing a woman with an owl's face instead of working.
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26 comments:
What a beautiful creature.
Thank you.
Wow the black and white is really beautiful.
wonderful! Thanks, Alison.
It's lovely. But the noise scared me - I didn't see this post at first and I thought my laptop was expiring on me.
Having watched the bald eaglecam a couple of years back, a warning. Wildlife cams are addictive.
I am so addicted already, Kim, and yeah I also prefer the nightcam.
Surprising variety of barks and squeals she makes. The one reserved for greeting her mate sounds like dragging a heavy trunk over an uneven wooden floor.
Right now she's ripping off pieces of dinner and letting baby take them out of her beak.
Wednesday Mar. 24
I missed the second hatch but there's two chicks out now.
Male returns to bring food and exercise conjugal rights around 10 pm or so every night.
Thursday Mar 25
Three chicks!
Sunday March 28 - Fourth emerging chick is unceremoniously dumped out of his shell by mom!
Male bringing prey more frequently now at night to feed them all.Last night he brought a rabbit. She pulled it about for a bit and then picked it up and disappeared with it. She returned too quickly to have eaten it herself so she must have rejected it for some reason.
The owl's name is Molly and McGee is her male companion living in San Marcos, CA. Carlos and Donna Royal have been filming the owls and have received notariety around the world. Google them and you will see many articles written. They also have a website steam http://www.ustream.tv/theowlbox - they are also selling mouse pads, shirts, and coffee mugs and have an e-book about this whole experience.
Thank you, Anon.
I hadn't noticed that the Ustream link no longer goes straight to Carlos' website so I've added your link and a note below it.
Beautiful, aren't they?
I've quite gotten used to having them around.
Your welcome Alison. I like your feed better. It's very peaceful. The live stream chats on Carlos's website are annoying to me.
My friend forwarded me your stream at first. Thank you so much for posting it. My kids and I have been watching Molly for the past week and a half. Yes, they are absolutely beautiful.
Thank you! :)
-Michelle (Chicago, IL)
You guys have to watch "Max coughs an Owl Pellet." There is a video out on the UStream link. Fastfoward to around 7:42. I didn't realize how big those pellets were! Too funny!
-Michelle
Chicago, IL
Heh. Thanks, Michelle. First time I've seen that.
Max horks up a pellet
Arrg, it has commercials now! I heard the guy yesterday saying the parents had left, and it looks like they may be still gone. And are there four chicks now?
Yeah, I turned the sound off so you don't get a loud commercial surprise when you click on Creekside.
I saw one parent - well, the legs anyway - arrive last night with a gopher and there was already quite a lot of carnage lying around on the floor already. Currently they are all ripping something apart.
The parents perch on the outside of the box mostly now just out of camera view but the chicks can see them and they chatter back and forth.
Yes, four chicks - one egg never hatched.
It's getting pretty crowded there, though nice and soft and fluffy. I'd stay outside mostly too.
One of the parents is in there now.
That's the mom, called Molly by the original site owner linked to at the top. A lot of swaying going on in there - must be pretty windy this evening.
If you want the sound on when an ad isn't on, just click the mute button in the lower right hand side of the vid.
I have been watching this for weeks now. It's addictive.
Sometimes the comments running at the side are hilarious.
The owner/maker of the box and webcam usually comes on and talks in the morning.
The questions with the school kids from all over the US have been live and very educational.
Carlos seems to be a very nice man and understands children.
I was online the night he got the second webcam happening.
He had to fiddle with it for quite
sometime but then it happened.
I posted it on my Facebook page and on our SSI community link to inform parents and others.
This Molly McGee show has reached over 5 million views.
The cardinal live webcam on Ustream is lovely too.
And CBC has the link for webcam at Sidney/BC, the Eagles
Wow, one of the kids just extended one wing out, and it's long with feathers and not too fluffy.
The fuzz is definitely coming off. How long before they take off, I wonder?
holly: thanks for the reminder
I got so busy with the salmon migration I forgot to tune in.
Apparently, the parents are arriving around 9:30 pm with food now
one more week and they may be out of the box
Max, the eldest fledgling, did a short flappy hop to the top of the outside of the box last night. One might generously call it flight.
Tonight he may make his first real flight.
Hi Alison,
The Royal's are broadcasting Mollys second clutch again! Neat!
-Michelle
Chicago
Hey Michelle, very kind of you to pop back and let me know. I see the old link has activated itself here again. Sweet.
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