Rusty and Iris have been snuggling up together lately, and Iris is losing belly feathers. All looks good for breeding!
Several of the Rusty and Iris cam watchers (and other cam watchers) are planning to attend the 10th Annual International Festival of Owls in Houston, Minnesota March 2-4, 2012. They'll get a chance to meet Tracy Eccles, host of the Pot Plant Owl cam in South Africa, and Carlos and Donna Royal, hosts of the Molly & McGee Barn Owl cam from San Marcos, California, among other great guests like Denver Holt of the Owl Research Institute in Montana and Prof. Dr. Michael Wink, owl DNA geneticist extraordinaire.
I know many chatters would like to know which other chatters are coming to the Festival. So feel free to leave a comment here with your chat name (not email) and also on the Festival's Facebook page. Then head over to a page with Rusty and Iris's chat on it, log in, find the other chatters coming, and send them a PM (personal message).
As of this writing I know of folks coming from California, Oklahoma, Indiana, and Wisconsin.
Hi Karla, I don't do facebook and I'm not a chatter, but just a regular viewer (lurker). I live only about two hours from Houston and plan to make a nice 'day trip' to the festival. I'm not sure which day, the weather will probably determine that. I'm especially looking forward to meeting you and Tracy and see all the other interesting things there. I enjoy watching your cams and learning from you and all the other chatters. Thanks for all you do. daoliver
ReplyDeleteJust looked in and saw Iris (?) sitting in the nest. If it was Iris, she was looking very much like an owl about to lay an egg or even an owl who has laid an egg. Here's hoping. 11:05 pm. MapleOwl
ReplyDelete(Hi--screwball here-for some reason, can't sign in...)
ReplyDeleteHmm...Tuned in last night around 18:00 PST and saw Iris lying down in the nest, and right now (02:56 PST), she's STILL there. Could there be something under her...?
Either she's got an egg or she will shortly. I can't see into the nest bowl with the cam well enough (the bowl is deep!) I'll physically check when I feed them tonight.
ReplyDeleteIris has been in the nest all night. From time to time Rusty hoots from his perch by the window and Iris answers with a gentle cluck. Something is definitely going on. Mapleowl
ReplyDeleteIris got off the nest just before 11 PM, an owl outside got them going I think. There was some flying, some tea, then a lot more hooting and she went back to the nest just after 11:30. Rusty came and sat on the nest and hooted to her but she just ignored him, poor boy. So no egg yet.
ReplyDelete(screwball here again--still can't seem to get this thing to verify my livejournal credentials...)
ReplyDeleteNot much happening at the moment (06:45-ish PST on 21 Jan 2012), but Iris has been in the nest as long as I've been tuned in this morning (a couple of hours or so). Heard something that might be of interest (I'm pretty sure it came from this cam)--at around 06:10-06:11 PST, Rusty was hooting, and Iris was responding with a vocalization that's kind of hard to describe--not exactly a chirp, definitely not a hoot, kind of a burbling noise, like a slower trill. Or I might have had my audio streams crossed.
Iris *has* been spending a lot of time in the nest bowl over the past few days. Soon, perhaps?
Screwball, what you likely heard was Iris' clucky chitters..."burbling" is a good word for it. She only does that on the nest, and most often when Rusty hoots to her. I think Iris laid an egg early this morning, but haven't confirmed it yet.
ReplyDeleteThank you for writingg this
ReplyDelete