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Pot Plant Owl is alive, well & sitting on eggs. Our DSL line crashed,hence we have not been able to update you. Happenings: We watched the male bring the female a small snake (about 8 inches), which she slurped down like spagetti. This took place in the twilight on the neighbours roof. We noticed that the crows are flying past keeping an eye on the nest, but not harrassing her. They have been giving the male hell - chasing him from tree to tree trying to drive him away from the nest. He has been trying to stay within sight (50m) of the nest. He has now decided the best spot is on our perimeter wall against the gate into our drive. We walk past him within 2m to go in & out. He doesn't even watch us any more. I'll post some photos shortly.
Please someone see if they can get onto the web cam. I need to know if it works. I can get on via the internet but it appears no one else can.
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Good Day - following your chat on 702 we wanted to view the webcam and could not access it - an error message was returned that link could not be found. Hope this helps.
ReplyDeletehi Guys, in Port of Spain in Trinidad for 6 weeks, and saw the article, or picture of Pot Plant ownl in the Citizen newspaper which the hotel gets me. So I thought I would log onto the web cam, and it times out, so it looks like the server hosting the web cam has a problem. hope to see mom and her chicks live soon. Stef.
ReplyDeleteHi there,
ReplyDeleteWe heard about Pot Plant Owl on Classic FM - we too can not access the webcam.
Can not wait to see more photo's and to be able to follow via webcam.
Julie
Webcam still does not work... disappointing... aaargh... please fix it... we want to see the Owls before they leave....! PLEASE...
ReplyDeleteFirst, my sincere apologies for the delay in replying - we have been very busy with the Book Launch and delivering the Books.
ReplyDeleteWEB CAM. We could not get the system to work. So we have joined Wild Earth. Visit www.wildearth.tv and scroll down to Pot Plant Owl. A link to our web site will be included shortly. The best time to view is 1800 to 2200 CAT and early morning.
CHICKS - we have 3 chicks that are now 1 week old. Still very small but watch them grow
This last week we have mostly watched the male. I managed to get an awesome photo of him attacking a crow that was pestering him. They are trying to drive him away from the nest, which they (the crows) fly past during the day hoping to catch a chick. He refuses to be chased away and is always close to the nest. At 1800, in daylight, he flies to a Satellite dish that looks over the nest, giving Pot Plant Owl time to stretch her wings. He spends the night bringing in food or watching over the nest. The Web Cam has a very sensitive microphone, which we will switch on at night so you can hear the calling.
ReplyDeleteHigh drama today as the nest was subjected to a determined attack by the crows.Two crows came down onto the railing and pillar next two the nest, hoping to snatch a chick. One attacked from the front and the other from behind Mom. She kept her cool and remained in the nest with her wings over the chicks, snapping her beak. Pappa flew around in a flash and the crows retreated. They made a few fly-bys during the morning.
ReplyDeleteI haven't been able to confirm that all 3 chicks survived as yet, but I did not see a crow with any.
We will keep you updated. We are working on recording the action during the day to play on Wild Earth later.
Hi..we are also playing hosts to two adult and two chick spotted eagle owls in Morningside, Joburg. Our chicks are about a foot tall now, half fluffy and half adult plumage. They can both now fly quite well, and spend their time sitting on the wall of our terrace, on roof tiles and in the garden. Mamma (I think it's the female) sits in trees where she can see them. We haven't seen the interference from other birds that you've had. Hope all goes well. What a privilege it is to observe these lovely birds at such close quarters.
ReplyDelete30 November
ReplyDeleteOkay people, firstly I need to offer a HUGE APOLOGY for not keeping the blog up-to-date. Allan started the blog. I was supposed to update it, and yes, well, I haven't done it. Really sorry, but promise to make it up to you.
Okay, where to begin:
The first chick was born on the 4th Nov with the others following shortly thereafter. They are 3.5 weeks old now and they are HUGE.
All three have survived attacks from crows, torrential downpours and lighting storms, and they are doing well.
The group watching the owl family every night on the webcam (bet. 5pm and 8pm Central African Time for those not seeing it yet), have adopted names for our chicks so far. This is what they've been nicknamed:
Mafuta - the biggest one that is now almost double the size of the other two.
Curious George / Georgina if it's a girl - the middle one with the whiter chin and the eyes that constantly dart about looking for new things. He/ she bops her head a lot and if we talk to it at the window, CG winks back.
Little / Bashful - the smallest one who is painfully shy. It keeps hiding whenever we go to the window.
All 3 chicks get along well and at this stage there is no fighting or picking on each other. We were worried about that with 3, but so far, so good.
We put up barked perches around the pot to give PPO and Pappa extra room when bringing food in. The pot plant is getting very small - 4 in a pot is a tight squeeze. At this stage, the chicks haven't ventured out the pot or onto the balcony railing but I guess it will be a day or two before they are exploring - SO PLEASE WATCH THE WEBCAM.
Their parents are still doing a remarkable job - very active in protecting, hunting, preening (PPO does this - not the male.
In the next day or two we will go out onto the balcony to 'donate' our parrots' wooden jungle gym for the chicks to use. Our parrots are not too happy but they've been told they are doing their 'charity work' for the owl chicks.
I will de updating every day now because now is activity time. Please let me know if there's anything you'd like to know about the owl family. Bye for now and have a great day!