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2 in the pot right now... Family portrait...Posted this morning on the blog... Blog entries: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!
Friday, November 12, 2010
Friday 12 November
Early morning: Teeny and Jelani are sitting with Pot Plant Owl when I wake this morning. I can see Pappa on the nearby rooftop, but I can't see Indie anywhere. Pot Plant Owl is looking relaxed and seems not to be worried about Indie. This is a good sign because it means that wherever Indie is, the parents know where to look after him / her.
Teeny and Jelanie have spent the morning resting in the nest. It is quite likely that Jelani will follow Indie in the next day or two, and leave Teeny on the balcony for another few days. Any day now, we will be saying goodbye to all of them.
Last night, Teeny flew from the balcony floor up to the pillar and balcony railing. Teeny made it all the way up there without crashing down. Well done Teeny! For most of the evening, Teeny chose to stand on the pillar on the far side of the balcony. We tried moving the camera to show you Teeny, but it is not well-lit so it was hard to see our Teeny.
Jelanie demonstrated great flying skills as it flew from balcony to rooftop, back to balcony again. Indie seemed to want to 'adventure' further as its name suggests, and spent most of the evening out of sight, occasionally popping up on the roof for a few moments.
Pot Plant Owl and Pappa had a tough time keeping track of their chicks. We were woken up by PPO's alarm call which sounded for a while, but didn't see anything unusual. Perhaps it was Mamma's instructions to Indie to keep close.
PM - We caught a glimpse of Indie in the early evening on a nearby roof. Indie was with Pappa, and looked quite well. As soon as it could, Jelanie took off to join Indie and Pappa, leaving Teeny on the balcony alone.
I knew it was going to happen by Teeny's body language. Teeny appeared frustrated at being alone, and anxious to join the rest of the family. Pot Plant Owl fed Teeny well, perhaps in an effort to distract Teeny. But our Teeny has a mind of its own (don't they all?), and had other things planned. Teeny opened its wings and gracefully exited the balcony. When Teeny landed in the neighbour's garden, that was the end of Teeny's graceful spell.
We watched Teeny flap, hop and jump on the grass. The garden only has grass - there are no trees, plants or shrubs. We waited to see if Teeny would be able to find its way onto the wall, and hopefully back into our garden, but the wall is too high at this stage (over double the height of the balcony pillar). For Teeny's safety, we took the decision to return Teeny quickly back to the nest. We picked Teeny up and quickly marched it back to the balcony, and put him / her down on the floor. A minute later, Teeny was back on the balcony pillar, calling for food. Pot Plant Owl came in with food. Moments after Teeny was back on the balcony, Indie flew to the neighbour's roof, so Teeny was happy again.
The next time Teeny flies off, which may well be tomorrow night, we won't return Teeny to the balcony. If Teeny lands in our garden or on our wall, we will just let Nature take its course. Our garden is quite safe, and there are lots of things Teeny can use to flap / climb onto to get more height. If Teeny lands in the neighbour's garden again, and can't get up to the wall, we will put Teeny on the wall, and again let Nature take its course from there.
The reason we brought Teeny back last night was based on watching Teeny's behaviour before the flight. Teeny was just trying to get to the family, rather than deciding that it wanted to explore the surroundings, and learn to fly. As you will see from the pictures we will post of Teeny now, Teeny is still quite small in comparision, and has done a lot less wing flapping and balcony hopping than the others. Fingers crossed that Teeny waits a few days before attempting it again.
We didn't see Indie before retiring this evening, but we are sure Indie is well and learning to hunt with Pappa. More cute pics: (click on the pics to enlarge them.)
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