The Harrington's Barn Owl Cam

05/29/2014	After no action for over a week, the male came in last night at 10:35 and stayed an hour and 20 min., mostly staying up close to the camera and frequently looking out the entrance. We're hoping he considers it his "home" and that a female joins him soon. Two stills (Cam2 IR):	The box is 30x15x12in. The two cameras are on the side facing camera, Cam1 (daylight) on right and Cam2 (IR) on left. It is supported on two 4" PVC pipes 15 ft long and fastened to the fence post with steel strap. The yellow rope behind is used to raise and lower it. It goes over a branch of an oak tree and down to a hand winch attached to the fence out of sight at right. The green rope is used to steady the box when raising or lowering. The orange line is a 3-wire cable carrying power for the cameras and lighting. The cable carries 10 Vdc, 3 Vdc (variable), and ground.  The 10 volts is converted to regulated 5 Vdc at 2.4 amperes (1.2 per camera) in the small box seen near the top of the fence, and the 3 volts passes through and is used to power the 16 IR LEDs. The feed line goes to the garage, about 100 feet. I chose to use the low-voltage approach to avoid the hazards of handling 120-volt house current. All components except the cameras are home-made.
05/20/2014	The male seen on the 9th visited for about an hour around 9 PM, both on the 19th and the 20th. We're sure it's the same as seen on the 9th. He was clearly more comfortable, spending time grooming and napping.
05/09/2014	We had a visit by a male we hadn't seen before early on the 3rd. It was very nervous, looking all around and staying only about a minute. What appeared to be the same one visited again on the 6th about 9:30 PM also staying only a minute. Here's a still capture of him on the 6th: He's a fine-looking owl indeed, and we're hoping he's a suitor for Natasha. We've had no activity since this event on the 6th. (Note the greatly improved quality of this image from Cam2. My work on improving the IR lighting made a very big difference.)
05/02/2014	The box remained empty all day on May 1, but an owl showed up about midnight and stayed until about 1 am today. We're delighted, to say the least. We're convinced that it is Natasha because we've seen first-time visitors, and they show signs of being very nervous and look around at everything, including frequent looking out the entrance. Our visitor this morning did none of that but settled in as if she owned the place. She called with the "klek-klek" call for the first minute or so. From having heard that many times before, I'm sure it is calling for mate. Whether it was just a forlorn call for Boris or a hopefull call for a new mate we can't say. Whichever, she spent the rest of the time grooming, which is perfectly normal. This capture is from about 1 am shortly before she left: This shot was shortly after she came in: Both shots show a great improvement in quality for Cam2, perhaps as good as can be done for IR within the limitations of the resolution, etc., of the camera.
4/30/1014	I was dissatisfied with the IR lighting, and so we lowered the box again on April 3, and it remained down until we finally raised it again on April 30. The modifications this time took the entire month, mainly waiting for parts. The main thing I did was to install new IR lighting in the form of 16 IR LEDs in two "light bars" with pieces of acrylic as difusers. I also provided wiring so I can control the current to the LEDs to adjust the IR intensity from the garage. This photo is looking in from the top with box on it side and top propped open: The light bars are on the same wall as the cameras, of which you can see the lenses at bottom (Cam1) and middle (Cam2). The tape on the wall around Cam2 covers holes for the red LEDs that are part of Cam2 and proved unsatisfactory for IR lighting. The wall are right is the bottom of the box that was covered with various forms of offal that I cleaned out. You can see the window I provided to the right of the cameras for daylight lighting. (When the box is up, the window is below the cameras.) It is covered with a piece of window screen. The entrance is at bottom in the picture.
04/02/2014	Natasha left sometime last night and didn't come in this morning, so I decided to take the opportuninty to lower the box for some modifications. We brought it down about 9 am and raised it back up around 1:30 PM. The changes I made were to move Cam2 up a couple of inches, add a window below Cam2 to improve lighting and air circulation, and add a small board to block the direct light on Cam1 coming in from the entrance. I also cleaned up the box and painted the walls light gray to provide a better backgound for the cameras. Here are snapshots of the empty box after the mods (Cam1 first): I did not attempt to salvage the eggs Natasha had abandoned a few days ago and buried them at the site. Lighting appears to be greatly improved, but the real test will be what it looks like with owls in the box. It takes two people to lower and raise the box, one to operate a hand winch attached to the fence and the other to guide it with a rope. Mary Ellen handled the winch, and I took the guiding rope. That can be done with one hand, and I used the other to take some pictures with my P&S. Here are two during the raising, first when it was about half way up (the yellow rope is attached to the winch and the green one is the guiding rope): It is in final position here ready to be fastened to the fence post: It is always a risk in lowering the box that the owls will be traumatized and not come back for a while, so we'll be anxious the next few days looking for her. It seems unlikely that Boris will be seen again, and we're hoping Natasha can find a new mate. There's no telling how long that could take.
04/01/2014	Natasha came back for a while later in the day yesterday and visited a short time around 3 am this morning. She came in before light and appears to be settled in for the day. However, she's ignoring the eggs. We're sure the reason for her behavior is Boris's absence as she knows she can't raise a family without his help. It's a great disappointment.
03/31/2014	Bad news: Natasha left the box at 7:25 am and didn't return until around noon, staying only an hour. She didn't sit on the eggs, and it appears she has given up. I'm pretty sure that the reason is that Boris hasn't been bringing food recently. Checking clips from the past week, I don't see Boris at all, and there hasn't been food for Natasha. We're afraid something has happened to Boris.
03/30/2014	Natasha has been very faithful in sitting the eggs, and we're looking for the first hatchling in about a week. We had a scare yesterday when a dozen or so bees buzzed in and around the box, sticking around for about an hour. They apparently were scouts looking for a place for a new hive, and we're nervous now to see if the swarm comes back. It's been about 20 hours so we're hopeful they won't.
03/15/2014	We now have 5 eggs, just noticed today.
03/11/2014	Egg #4!
03/09/2014	Natasha laid a third egg this morning aroung 9 am. She is still sitting on the eggs dutifully.
03/08/2014	Natasha finally laid a second egg on March 6 and has been sitting on it and the first egg in a more dedicated fashion than she did with her first. She's sitting on both, but we don't think there's any chance that the first will hatch. According to Allaboutbirds.org, the incubation period is 29 to 34 days, so the second egg should hatch around April 5 to 9 if she stays on it. Their habit is to lay at 1-3 day intervals, from 2 to 18(!) eggs.
02/25/2014	Natasha sat on the egg but without much dedication for about 5 days then abandoned it. The egg has just been sitting there since. It seems to have stimulated Boris, however, who has been bringing in food on a regular basis, sometimes much more than Natasha can eat. In fact, on some occasions Natasha has picked up carcasses and left with them, coming back without them. She has spent every day in the box since sometime in January; Boris joined her for the day just once a few days ago. There's a lot of coming and going at night and none during the day, possibly because our neighborhood is overrun with crows that would undoubtedly attack the owls if seen. They've been mating frequently, and her eggs should be well fertilized. We're still hoping they'll produce a family.
02/08/2014	We have an egg! Natasha laid it sometime this morning. Now the onus is on Boris to bring in food for her and later the family.
02/03/2014	For about the last two weeks, Natasha has spent all day from just before sunrise to sunset in the box. Neither has come or gone in daylight, but Boris comes in fairly often at night, usually for mating after which he leaves immediately. For a while he brought food (usually voles, I think) but none seen now for a few days. Here's Natasha with the largest I've seen, possibly a gopher (Jan 30): It seems that all is ready for her to begin laying.
12/23/2013	We've been having visits almost every night, any time between sunset and sunrise and often with both Natasha and Boris. It's been weeks since we've seen any during daylight, but one came in about 6:15 this morning, and it looks like she (I assume) is staying. Based on previous experience, she'll stay all day until after dark.
12/14/2013	They mated yesterday afternoon around 5:30 and again this morning around 2:30. See YouTube of this morning's here.
12/13/2013	One owl came in at 6:14 this morning, not sure which. Judging from past experience, he or she will stay until dark, mostly sleeping. See still captures here: Cam1 (color): https://robert-harrington.com/owl1.htm Cam2 (IR): https://robert-harrington.com/owl2.htm
12/12/2013	The only activity yesterday and today was visits in the wee hours around 2 to 3 am. See a YouTube video from this morning triggered by the motion alarm on Cam2 (IR) here.
12/10/2013	The owls have been much more active recently, spending a lot more time in the box, especially Natasha. Yesterday around 5:30 PM, they mated for the first time that I've seen since last Spring. Another encouraging sign is that she appears to have bulked up, something I read that the females do in preparation for breeding. See this still capture from Dec 8 where Natasha is on the right:
12/10/2013	I had to shut down the video from this page because the camera as server was overloaded to the point that the frame rate was less than 1 frame/sec. If the owls begin to raise young, I will look into means to broadcast video to a wider audience. In the meantime, I will use this page for status reports. For single frame access go to https://robert-harrington.com/owl2.htm.