As of 8/5/14 the Osprey Camera is offline.
The company that was streaming the OspreyCam video for us ceased operations 
after 7 years of quality live online video broadcasting.
CBEC has other video streams coming up, with a new source of online 
broadcasting being setup – stay tuned!

judy's owl blog

Eagles and owls are not compatible species…and the owls always come up short when there is a confrontation.  Such was the case at CBEC in 2014…no nesting owls due to the harassment of one immature eagle wintering on the property.

 In early February a Great Horned Owl was nesting at the western edge of the property.  She was two weeks into the incubation period when an immature eagle found her nesting.  The eagle chased the owl off the nest, and then over a two day period proceeded to destroy the nest by ripping it apart.  All that remained were scattered sticks on the ground.

There had been no signs of eagle disturbance at the nest site where the owl camera was positioned.  In fact from January 12 through mid-March the GHO that used the nest had visited the site at least 26 times.  It looked like she planned to use the nest again.  The behavior exhibited when visiting the site was not serious nesting behavior, and her visits were always brief.  One day near the end of March the marauding eagle landed on the owl cam nest intending on making a meal of owl chicks or eggs. The eagle was sighted in the woodlot throughout March, and probably witnessed the GHO visiting the nest.  It was reported that an eagle was chasing an owl in the same area.  The opportunity for the owl to nest this year was nixed due to the constant presence of a superior avian predator…the eagle.  Such upsets in natural cycles frequently occur, and we can only look forward to the next nesting cycle in January 2015.

Owl Notes

03/25/14– The female GHO spent 5 minutes on the nest (01:45-01:50) looking over the substrate.The nest has deteriorated with the winter storms, but for an owl…still in good shape. She did not do anything to “improve conditions”, but rather moved about on the nest inspecting it (looking at nooks and crannies). This period of time for the bird is in the waning time for nesting. The window for nesting time is near the end for GHO’s. They need to spend months with the fledglings and she is running out of time. Many times GHO’s do not nest every year, and I am thinking this is an off year for this bird.

03/14/14– The bird is still visiting the nest, but showing no sign of serious nesting. She alighted on the nest at 05:55 and peered about the substrate without making any overt movements to do anything to the substrate. She left to the south east within the minute. (05:55)

03/10/14– After a week of cold temps, some snow, some melt with no “owl action” the female GHO sneaked in for a peek, very brief, at the nest to see if all was intact. At 5:30 this morning she alighted on the nest, did a quick visual inspection, and left the site. All was intact. Eight days without a visit, and then she appeared in the early morning hours. This is the 17th visit to the nest since January 12th.

03/01/14– The female alighted on the nest from the east side and spent the entire time (18:12-18:20) renovating the depression. She worked diligently to remove a stick that is embedded in the base of the nest, but to no avail. Several times she sat in the depression for a minute or more without moving (acclimating the depression to fit her). She is very close to laying eggs. The male also landed on the perimeter of the nest from the south side and watched the activity. He vocalized the hoot several times, and the female responded with the clucking sounds. The nest is ready!

02/26/14– The female was on the nest for inspection. She did not alter the substrate, but looked around the nest, and then left. The time of visit was 18:36 to 18:39.

02/25/14– She is visiting the nest in the wee hours…actually two visits so far today. 01:51-01:53 the first visit and 04:16-04:24 for the second visit which she worked around the nest cup (depression) for 8 minutes. She rounded the cup from all angles using her feet to sweep/shuffle material, and her beak for fine tuning of the depression. Serious business.

02/21/14– The GHO female came to the nest from 18:08 and left 18:11. It appears she spent most of the time inspecting her work from yesterday, and observing what was happening in the area of the nest.

02/20/14– Female alighted on the nest and resumed arranging nest substrate from 06:12-06:19.

02/16/14– No activity at the nest.

02/15/14– No activity at the nest.

02/14/14– No activity at the nest. Both birds giving location calls at 16:21 through 16:23. Birds usually locate each other relatively quickly within a few minutes. After locating each other calling stops and the hunting mode occurs.

02/13/14– No activity at the nest.

02/12/14– No activity at the nest.

02/11/14– No activity at the nest.

02/10/14– No activity at the nest.

02/09/14– Owl on nest inspecting. At 00:06 am the owl arrived and spent ~ 6 minutes on the nest, looking around and inspecting. She did not do any renovating. Departed the nest at 00:12. This is the 10th time she has visited the nest, but not established an affinity. We are still within the time frame of the nesting cycle, so we will continue to watch and see what happens.

02/08/14– No nest activity.

02/07/14– No activity at the nest. 16:44-16:46 location vocalizations. Male calling to locate female. When the birds are on the nest there is very little vocalization. So, from the calls I know the birds have not nested somewhere else. Several days have passed since a nest visit, but since the birds are still calling…they are not ready yet. If I recall from last year, this bird did nest late in the cycle.

02/06/14– No activity at the nest. 21:07-21:10 overlapping location hoots in the immediate area of the nest, but no visual contact.

02/05/14– No activity at the nest. Gale winds (34-47 knots).

02/04/14– No activity at the nest. Weather cold and a steady rain all day.

02/03/14– No activity at the nest. This doesn’t surprise me as the weather was not conducive to a regular routine for the birds. Today started w/rain and later in the day some snow. During adverse weather (if the bird is not incubating) the birds sit tight. They crawl into a tangle of vines, sit next to the main trunk in a thick evergreen, or go wherever they can find a shelter from the elements. After the front passes, their next item of business is finding food, and that becomes harder to do if there is snow cover. I am thinking the bird may return to “examine” the nest today (watch between 5:00 pm and 6:30 pm), and soon within a few days, I hope, …to be laying eggs.

02/02/14– No activity at the nest.

02/01/14– Female GHO was in the area of the nest at (17:41), but not in camera range. I heard her emit the “clucking” vocalization for approximately a minute before she alighted on the nest. (17:43). She immediately got down to work rearranging the floor of the nest, inspecting her work, and then continued scratching the debris and moving sticks that were in the way of forming a nice depression (cup). She was very busy trying to rearrange one section of the substrate which was stubbornly intact. At one point I saw her lift a section of the nest bottom, but it was to ‘packed down’ to lift. She stayed in the one area for about 5 minutes, and then moved to another section of the nest. She was oblivious to the camera as she moved about the nest getting things organized. She continued the clucking sound and eight times gave location hoots in response to the male calling from the back of Lake Knapp. She spent the last minute on the perimeter of the nest facing southwest, vocalizing both the cluck and hoot sound. She departed at (17:59), moving on to the hunting time. Her focus on preparing the substrate was very intense. This is the first time I observed the bird on the nest at the exact time when the infra red light switched on (17:45) to illuminate the nest in darkness. She did not react at all to the “mechanical change.”

01/31/14– Female arrived at the nest at (22:27) and left the nest at (22:32). During that time she was busy scraping the substrate of the nest with feet. She spent some time (about 30 seconds) fitting the depression to her body by squatting in the depression and brushing the material with her wings. She gave several location sounds while working on the nest. At one point she was very alert and looked directly at the camera with a head bob motion, but continued with her nest work after that alert moment. I think we are closing in on an egg-laying date.

At this point in time (pre-nesting) the female is very susceptible to disturbance, and on occasion may abandon the nest. She is returning to the nest regularly at varying times to check the activity in the area, primarily to see if anything has changed since last season. (i.e. more people traffic, new buildings, free-roaming pets, etc.) This is a most vulnerable time in that she is ‘making sure it’s safe’ for raising young. The rule-of-thumb is: the more time invested in the nesting cycle, the less likely to abandon. So, in this early stage not too much invested and abandonment may occur, but when with eggs and even more so with nestlings she will stick tight. For those individuals hiking the property and encountering the nest, please move through the area. Let’s keep our bird on task!

01/30/14– Female appeared at the nest at (18:17) and departed from the nest at (18:27). In that 10 minute time frame she scratched at the substrate and went about organizing the debris in the bottom of the nest cup. She was clucking/location hoot on several occasions and the male would answer (while she was arranging debris). I noticed she moved two sticks (w/beak) to the perimeter, and the third stick that she handled several times (beak and talons), she brought back to the depression. She ignored the camera completely, but was alert to sounds coming off of Lake Knapp (ice movement). It was interesting in that I heard her cluck several times before I saw her on the nest. She was in the nest tree when she vocalized, but out of camera range since the focus is on the nest. No male in sight, but locating nearby.

01/29/14– Location calls from the Nostril and berm on Lake Knapp at (00:11); no sighting at nest.

01/28/14– No activity.

01/27/14-No activity.

01/26/14– Female appeared at the nest at (17:18) and departed the nest at (17:28). During that 10 minutes she was busy “rearranging the substrate”. She modified the depression with her feet and moved a few sticks with the beak while vocalizing the “clucking sound”. At (17:27) the male alighted on the SW edge of the nest while she was doing the final foot scrapings. Both left at that time.

01/25/14– Female appeared on the nest at (21:13) and departed the nest at (21:15). She alighted from the SE. Back to the camera and looking down inspecting the nest. Stared in the direction of Lake Knapp w/back to camera. Turned to face SW direction, and left nest.

01/24/14– No activity; snow cover/cold/windy.

01/23/14– No activity; snow cover/cold/windy.

01/22/14– Two sets of location hoots from the Nostril (00:22). No other activity.

01/21/14– No observed nest visit. (00:22). Location vocalizations by both male and female in the area of the Nostril. R. Jamison reported observing an owl in the Nostril area approximately 3:30 pm. It left a perch and flew in the direction of the woodlot w/nest. Snowing and nest substrate becoming covered at 12:50. The nest was completely covered w/snow at 9:30 am when observations stopped. No visit. At 2:00 am the winds were subsiding, but nest still covered. At 7:00 am the perimeter of the nest was absent of snow, and the cup looked like it was disturbed in that there appeared that nest debris was scattered on the remaining snow from digging. There was an intense snowstorm/winds from 10:00 am through 10:00 pm today. Approximately 4” of snow.

01/20/14– No observed nest visit (17:35). Location vocalizations by both male and female in the area of the nostril. Infra red switched on at 17:42. Very windy conditions and much sound interference between 17:00-and 20:00.

01/19/14– No observed nest visit. ((17:42). She was in the area of the nest because the male vocalized from somewhere in the Nostril, and she responded. She was in very close proximity of the nest.

01/18/14– Visited the nest (17:47). Scratched in the depression excitedly hooting while on nest; male responded in close proximity to the nest. This lasted 3 minutes; female left the nest. She returned almost immediately and nestled in the depression fitting it to her body for about one minute. No vocalization this visit.

01/16/14– Visited the nest (16:57). Scratched around the depression for approximately 4 minutes. Left the nest.

01/12/14– First visit to nest. (20:57). Came to nest for approximately 20 minutes digging in depression forming a cup where previous cup was located. Debris filled the old cup over the months. Left the nest and then returned for about 8 minutes.

Eagles at Owl’s Nest

Eagles and owls are not compatible species…and the owls always come up short when there is a confrontation. Such was the case at CBEC in 2014…no nesting owls due to the harassment of one immature eagle wintering on the property.

In early February a Great Horned Owl was nesting at the western edge of the property. She was two weeks into the incubation period when an immature eagle found her nesting. The eagle chased the owl off the nest, and then over a two day period proceeded to destroy the nest by ripping it apart. All that remained were scattered sticks on the ground.

There had been no signs of eagle disturbance at the nest site where the owl camera was positioned. In fact from January 12 through mid-March the GHO that used the nest had visited the site at least 26 times. It looked like she planned to use the nest again. The behavior exhibited when visiting the site was not serious nesting behavior, and her visits were always brief. One day near the end of March the marauding eagle landed on the owl cam nest intending on making a meal of owl chicks or eggs. The eagle was sighted in the woodlot throughout March, and probably witnessed the GHO visiting the nest. It was reported that an eagle was chasing an owl in the same area. The opportunity for the owl to nest this year was nixed due to the constant presence of a superior avian predator…the eagle. Such upsets in natural cycles frequently occur, and we can only look forward to the next nesting cycle in January 2015.