British Columbia Wildlife Watch - Nesting Barn Owls

Nesting Barn Owls
Update Page

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This special page of the British Columbia Wildlife Watch web site has been added to post updates and details of the Barn Owl nestbox in Washington State. You can visit the nest live by clicking on "OwlCam" at web cams.

A selection of photos taken from the web cam chronicle the main events of the Barn Owl nestbox in 2004. The most recent events and photos will be added at the bottom of the "journal". You can go directly to the most recent entry date for the latest news, or just scroll down the page. All seven eggs have hatched and seven chicks are clearly visible!

The following update information is provided by the area biologist:

The barn owls are back and have renested for 2004. Four eggs were noticed on March 11 as well as a few owl pellets discovered outside the nesting box. The bullet camera was activated on March 16th and monitored by Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife staff before going live! During the monitoring six eggs were counted as the female owl turned the eggs and tugged at chunks of what appeared to be the remains of a cottontail rabbit. The barn owls seem to be off to a good start and we hope the owls have a successful nesting season. We hope you come often and enjoy the images and information on the Owlcam.

MARCH

24 / 30 / 31

APRIL

4 / 9 / 11 / 12 / 16 / 20 / 21 / 22 / 26 / 28 / 30

MAY

1 / 3

JUNE

March 24th

One of the Barn Owls sitting on the eggs.

The six eggs are clearly visible when the Barn Owl takes a few minutes to preen.

March 30th

Seven eggs are clearly visible!

March 31st

Must get pretty cramped sitting on eggs in a box all day - a good stretch must feel great.

April 4th

Still seven eggs being tended.

April 9th

The first check was observed on April 5th. Two chicks have now hatched.

Another view of the two chicks and 5 remaining eggs.

April 11th

Definitely two chicks.

April 12th

In the dimming light of sunset a view of three chicks and two eggs.

April 16th

It's hard to tell, but is that three or four chicks?

April 20th

Certainly four, but is it five?

April 21st

Definitely five!

Notice the size difference. In years of good food supply, there will be enough food to feed them all and the younger ones will not be out-competed by their older siblings. In years of poor food supply the bigger, older chicks will out-complete their younger siblings who will not get enough food to survive.

April 22nd

White owl chicks every-which-way. Keeping them warm and still incubating the remaining eggs.

Growing by leaps and bounds.

April 26th

At least four visible, and maybe five.

April 28th

Chicks, chicks everywhere!

April 30th

Growing fast. Four visible in this photo.

May 1st

Depending on how you look at this photo, there are six chicks for sure and maybe seven. The oldest is on the left and the youngest is in the middle.

There are six visble.

By looking at a series of several dozen photos, it appears that seven chicks are in the nest. In this photo, and the next one, six white chicks are visible and the seventh would be the youngest, striped chick visible two picture above.

Getting crowded!

May 3rd

Seven! There definitely are seven baby owls. All of them are visible in this photo.

Photo 1 of 3 - I must learn to turn my head around. First I'll go right .....

Photo 2 of 3 - ...... then I'll go left .......

Photo 3 of 3 - ....... then I'll go right again .....