Owlets taken out of the nest, 2:47 pm, 4-8-13

Rusty and Iris were NOT happy campers about having their owlets removed from the nest. My mistake was I took #1 first...the biggest and clackiest! All of #1's bill clacking got Iris to fly over to the nest, despite me being there. I quickly closed the door before she came at me. You can hear #1 clacking as well as louder bill clacks from Iris. Surprisingly Rusty was even there to help defend the nest...although at a little more of a distance. From what I've read, the male just flies off and lets the female deal with nest defense because as we all know, the females are bigger and meaner. I waited for a while before removing one of the owlets because Rusty and Iris were on the side perch staring daggers at me. I didn't dare do anything until they flew farther away. I added a stuffed owl (a Snowy, but it was the one that looked most like the fluffy owlets). Iris couldn't have cared less. So much for that idea.