Just like the last few nights, she’s using the same cavity, flies out, copulates, he flies away and she goes back to her cavity.
I experimented with some movies tonight. They aren’t visible in the second segment, but you can hear them copulating.
The male waited patiently for his mate to fly out this evening. Once she left her cavity, they quickly copulated and the male when off across the North Meadow.
The female then stayed near her cavity calling for about 10 minutes before flying off.
Male on scene as I arrive, female in cavity. Both fly to nearby tree and copulate. Male flies south just like the last few nights. Female calls and then disappears (back into the cavity or somewhere else?).
Tonight was much less exciting than last night. Only a brief copulation and the female went back to bed! (I think she returned to her roost due to the cold rather than an early nesting period.) I then waited for over an hour in the cold. Her mate never returned and she stayed inside her cavity.
It was dark enough tonight that focusing my camera was difficult. Included below are some blurry pictures of the male.
With the weather just a little warmer, we got to witness the male arrive, copulate twice with the female, and then return with a mouse for his mate. They copulated again, he took went. She coughed up a pellet and then ate her mouse.
I only had a point and shoot camera with us, so I couldn’t capture the moments.
Tonight, Robert Decandido led another of his owl tours. Luckily, since he rarely does any field work he played his recording in the wrong area. The frigid temperatures and high winds has the female staying close to her cavity. I’m glad she didn’t get tricked into going out into the cold by Robert Decandido.
The female made a few brief calls after it was dark, came out of her cavity and joined the male on a small tree. Caroline thinks they copulated, but I didn’t see it. The female owl quickly returned to her cavity and the male went south towards the Recreation Center just like last night.
Searches around the Recreation Center and the lower part of the Loch didn’t locate the male. When we returned to the female’s cavity, she was perched in it. After a few minutes, she went back inside. One quirk of this cavity seem to be, that the female needs to leave the cavity and turn around, to get back inside.
It was too cold to see if the male would return with food or female would be going out to meet him.
