Good Views of All Three Chicks, 9:45am, 3-30-13

Rusty Attempts To Feed Again, This Time With Some Success, Approx. 7:00 am, 3-30-13

Rusty Attempts To Fed His Chicks, 7:00 pm, 3-29-13

Owlet #1 - Up Close - approx. noon 3-29-13

Home Alone 5:50 pm 3-28-13

Feeding All Three, Approx. Noon 3-28-13

#1 Finally Downs A Small Mouse! 10:18 pm, 3-27-13

GREAT views and GREAT yawns from the Owlets, 8:13 am, 3-27-13

"Wingercizing" at 11:05 pm, 3-26-13

An Owlet Attempts to Eat A Small Mouse, Approx. 12:15pm 3-26-13

It took the owlet about 5 minutes, and he pulled it out and started over at least a couple of times. Iris finally tore the adult field mouse up and fed it to the owlets. But this owlet definitely deserves an "E" for effort!

Great View of Iris Feeding the Owlets

News Coverage

Rusty and Iris have been in the news lately.  Check it out!

WKBT Channel 8 in La Crosse, WI


KTTC Channel 10 in Rochester, MN:
Owlets help further study on owl communication: One-of-a-kind research is taking place while the world watches online. Both blind in their right eyes, Rusty and Iris are non-releasable Great Horned Owls, raising their owlets for the first time in captivity.

La Crosse Tribune:
http://lacrossetribune.com/news/local/proud-parents-great-horned-owlets-hatch-at-houston-nature-center/article_6c378736-9115-11e2-a6ce-0019bb2963f4.html

Winona Daily News (same article):
http://www.winonadailynews.com/news/local/regional/article_98e3c662-9112-11e2-a2aa-001a4bcf887a.html

Rusty Inspects His Owlets

Rusty finally gets a really, really good uninterrupted view of his owlets.  It made me pretty nervous when he got down into the nest with them, but he was very gentle.

See All Three Owlets! 6:46 am, 3-23-13

A peek at all three owlets, midnight 3-22-13

Notice #3 sitting up in the center at approx 44 seconds and appears to put its wing around his sibling, but eventually falls over.

6:08 am, 3-22 - look closely - you'll see chick #3, but that's it for now I'm afraid!

While we haven't actually seen #3, Iris eats its shell 10:47 am 3-21-13

Come on, #3!

Owlet #3 is still in the process of hatching.  While the small pip side of the egg is still up, I wanted to share the underside of the egg that we got a fleeting look at last evening around 5:30 PM after Iris fed the kids with the pipped egg outside of her protective feathers.  There is a wide line cut across the egg, so we can realize #3 has more going on than just the little hole we can see.

We have a Pip! Watch for the Chick's Movement, Sounds and Egg Tooth! 5:02 pm 3-20-13

Iris Moves Rabbit Leg to the Corner that Rusty Brought Earlier - 2:37 pm, 3-20-13

Iris Feeds and Chitters, Approx. 2:10 pm, 3-20-13

Rusty Visits the Chicks, 7:29 am, 3-20-13

Iris Shows Us Her Chicks, 10:02 am, 3-19-13

#2 Has Hatched!

Owlet #2 showed his head today for a half-hour feeding session from before 6 PM until well after.  We have two beautiful, healthy owlets!

First Owlet and Second Hatching

A good view of the first owlet, now two days old, and it's sibling starting to hatch.

Peeks at Iris's Chick approx. 12:30 am

Alice Tries to Steal Iris' Thunder

While Iris' egg was peeping and getting ready to hatch (which it did last night), Alice wanted her share of the attention too.  So she laid another egg yesterday!  That explains why she hasn't wanted to go to work lately.

She already laid two eggs and sat on them for 33 days, the normal incubation period.  I removed them a week before the Owl Festival, and now two weeks later she laid another egg.  She's never double-clutched like this before.  This is why I let her incubate the full time if possible, so she DOESN'T lay another clutch.

So now I'll wait to see if she lays another egg three days later.  Then I'll give her a little time and take them away.  And maybe I'll need to remove the nest basket too so she goes back to work....

We Have A Hatch!

Iris has been very good to stay on her nest.  She hasn't gotten off for over 30 hours as of this typing.  But we did get a glimpse of her first owlet being fed just after 7 AM today.  If you look closely you can see the owlet's egg tooth--the white spot on its beak.  Listen closely to hear Iris talking to the owlet and the owlet peeping back.

Peeping!

OK, hatch is imminent...we have peeping in an egg, but no pip yet.  Check out the video of the owlet in the egg peeping while Iris is away from the nest for a bit.