I now suspect that the little owl in the myrtle was caught in the open and was remaining still, as the hawks are a clear threat to her. I was surprised at the early morning catch by the hawks, I usually see them hunting later. Did the male bring its prey to the female as a love offering? I mean, it is almost Valentine’s Day! It’s not a great photo, but shows both of these beauties.
They were closer together when I initially saw them and the dining hawk definitely bigger, which indicates that she’s the female.
The smaller male perched nearby while the female ate. Just then, I heard the call of a Cooper’s Hawk, Accipiter cooperii, and observed two in her large backyard tree One of the hawks was enjoying an early breakfast. The owl was still and facing my sister-in-law’s back garden. It was light, just barely, and it’s not typical to see owls out in the open after daybreak. This morning, at about 7am, I was hanging up the bird feeders and setting out unshelled peanuts along my back fence, when I saw an owl perched in a different, smaller tree–a Crape Myrtle–belonging to the same back neighbor. These two photos of the same hole were taken on different days. I know when he’s sleeping inside the hole or perhaps not there at all, when I can see the deep, dark of the hole. Without the help of the caterwauling jays, I would have never known he was there, he’s so well camouflaged. The Blue Jays know he’s there–that’s how I found him–following their warning calls as they harass him from time-to-time. In the last two weeks, I’ve spied an owl (the same male?) in that hole almost every day. The hole has a clear view of the nest box and isn’t far away. Like foxes, they’re omnivores consume a wide variety food.ĭuring that nesting time last year, dad would rest in the hole of my back neighbor’s dead Arizona Ash tree.
I found broken egg shells at the base of the tree and realized that the nest had been raided, I assumed by a raccoon, as they’re very common in our neighborhood. One morning in early March, I logged on, got the inside view and there was nothing in the box–no eggs, no mama owl. At that time, our owl nest box camera was functional (it has since given up the ghost), but I loved watching mama in the box, shifting and snuggling over the eggs, and dad bringing her treats of rats in the evening. Last year, a pair of mated Eastern Screech Owls, Megascops asio, wooed one another and settled into our nest box, the female laying four eggs. But in an urban environment, they have a place and are adaptable and comfortable even if we rarely encounter them. That being said, foxes are omnivores and along with rodents, will eat bird eggs and baby birds, as well as many other things. I love the fact that there are foxes in our midst, shy and elusive, but very much a part of the wildlife tapestry and great hunters of rodents. These neighborhood foxes are most likely Gray Foxes, Urocyon cinereoargenteus. I’m also fairly sure I know where they live and it’s not far. Wait, I don’t have a dog! What I’d stepped in was not the poop of a dog but scat from a fox! I know there are foxes in our neighborhood because I saw a pair not long ago, early in the morning. As I was walking back along the same path, realized that I’d stepped in dog poop.
Recently, I walked along to path to my beehive, Bo-Peep, to check on the consumption of sugar water after a cold spell.
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