Saturday 13 November

I was so excited this morning to see all three chicks back in the nest when I woke up. I suspected that Jelani would return to join Teeny, but I had my doubts about Indie, our explorer.

Seeing the three chicks in the pot plant nest makes one realise how much they have grown. There is barely any space for them to lie down now without flopping on top of one another. By mid -morning, Pot Plant Owl had joined her chicks for a short while. The nest pot was bursting at the seams with all of them together. It would be nice if Pappa was obliging and flew in for a full family shot.

It's come to my attention that, to combat boredom and owl withdrawal symptoms while we had no internet connectivity, some of our chat room viewers decided to make up stories about our owls. This is what the viewers came up with watching a black screen, and I quote:

"While Indie and Jelani scanned the neighbourhood from the pillars, Teeny hissed and called for his supper. First PPO brought Teeny a Cricket Pate appetizer. This was followed by Pappa bringing the main course of snake spaghetti, rounded off with a King Cricket crunch dessert. It was a feast that put Teeny in a food coma."

and another part of the story,
"Jelani and Indie flapped off the balcony to explore, until PPO hooted loudly for their return, for supper. They eventually obliged and flapped their way back to the balcony, only to find that Teeny had eaten all the good stuff, and they were left with King Crickets. Teeny woke up from his coma, and joined his sibs in the pot plant for another nap"

While this was going on, other people were logging in to view the webcam, and they were all very confused - to put it mildly.
"What are you guys looking at?"
"Where are you watching?"
"Something's wrong with my screen. All I see is the black square"

Moral of this story?
Next time you find yourself looking at something mundane like a black square, think of all the other limitless possibilities this 'black square' may hold. You may be surprised!

PM - The chicks must have swolled a packet of sugary treats. For a couple of hours, we watched as the chicks jumped, flew, pounced, gnawed and attacked everything in their paths. They found leaves to stomp on, and tables to attack. Teeny defended 'his / her' shoe from its siblings. The chick even went so far as to grab the shoe in its talons, and fly the length of the balcony with the shoe trailing.

Allan tried moving the camera to keep up with all the movement, but that proved a difficult task. Eventually, the excitement / hyperactivity wore off, and the chicks were soon overcome with tiredness. One of them lay down in the far pot plant, and Teeny dozed off on the pillar. Although they had been fed during this manic stage of theirs, the chicks weren't hissing for food like they normally do.

Indie and Jelani spent time on the rooftops with their parents, before Indie left for the night - probably to learn how to hunt with Pappa. When we went to sleep, Teeny was still on the middle pillar of the balcony.