Friday 22 October

And here is our beautiful, Pot Plant Owl! This is one of the pics from our book, taken of her on our balcony just after the rain. She is exquisite!

Phew! Where to begin? Lots to say and do, and not enough time in the day for everything.

Firstly, thanks for all the comments on the blog. I read them all even if I don't reply to each individual one. Thanks to Fleur for the great video clips of the owls. You can find the links in the comments section from 20 Oct and 21 Oct.

And Vicki, thanks for the information about the middle chick's 'wandering' last night. That was the start of a lot more exploring to come, and now you can see how stressful it can get. We heard the owls hooting like crazy, but didn't look on the balcony. We also heard the chicks' snapping beaks.

Then, today is the last day to submit your entries for the "Name-the-chicks" competition. You can submit via Africam website, or the Africam Face Book page. We'll be shortlisting the names this weekend, and then you get to have the final say next week.

For those in South Africa: we'd like to educate children about owls and Nature in general, and have set aside some "Pot Plant Owl" books to donate to schools. If you'd like to nominate a school to receive a book, please send me an email on: enquiries@potplantowl.co.za

Then, we had great publicity this morning with an article in The Citizen newspaper, and a follow-up mention on the Jenny Cryws-Williams show on 702 Talk Radio. The article was about webcams as an important tool that can be used to educate people about Nature, and to raise awareness of the plight of animals / birds etc in urban area. We're really pleased that more and more people are taking the time to:

• watch Nature at work


• write and talk about the amazing stuff they see, and


• want to make a difference (even if it is just giving up your balcony for a while like we have)

Getting back to the owls right now on the balcony:

I can confirm that Pot Plant Owl slept on one leg this morning. Her eyes were closed and even when I moved the curtain, she didn't wake up. So that answers one of the questions on the chat room last night about the owls.

Teeny is doing really well, and the popular opinion shared by many, is that Teeny will probably end up the strongest of the three. Teeny is full of bounce, and a far cry from the tiny, sickly chick we took to FreeMe.

The other two chicks are special and different. The biggest chick gulped down a small snake last night much to the delight of those watching the webcam at the time. And according to a viewer, the middle chick took off exploring last night - the first chick to venture out of the pot container. So there's lots to tell the chicks apart, if you spend a little time watching them.

Ok - will be back later.

PM
Tonight's feeding is not as frantic as last night's. Our biggest chick (soon to be named) gobbled up another small snake. He / she slurped the snake up with the finesse of a seasoned spaghetti eater -well done!

Teeny got lots to eat, so no worries about Teeny losing out. The middle one also managed to be in the perfect spot to receive some good morsels of food, and larger pieces too. Very happy chicks!

We saw the most amazing thing on the neighbour's roof. Pot Plant Owl was on the roof and Pappa flew in and landed right at the edge of the roof. The two of them began their now famous conversations - going back and forth to each other for a while. Suddenly, Pot Plant Owl spread her wings out and flew at Pappa, attacking him. Immediately Pappa flew off again to hunt. We think she was trying to tell him to do his bit and get more hunting done. It reminded me of the cartoon scene of a housewife brandishing a rolling pin and chasing her husband out the house. It looked very funny!