LOL! These 3 have a ways to go yet before they are Master Hunters.

The three owlets have just started developing their adult hoots and plans are to release them when they do have their adults hoots. Their best guess about when that will happen is sometime in November or December.

LOL! Poor rat thought it got away. The 3 owlets hunting skills are getting better every day.


video by Karla Bloem

I love it when they rear back their heads like they'z in total shock! That rat was smelling the fresh air and the taste of freedom... oops!

Update from the blog:
Patrick has finally gotten his hoot! The girls both were doing full-blown adult territorial hoots before Patrick, but he has finally caught up with his sisters. All owlets were doing "emphatic hoots" (hoots with extra notes in them that indicated they are not happy campers) before they did their real territorial hoots.

Now that they have gotten their hoots and have practiced on rats, they are ready to meet the world. I hope to get their transmitters put onto their tail feathers this weekend, then give them a few days in their flight pen to make sure everything is working well, then I'll open the door to the big, wide world outside. And I'll be crossing my fingers that Victor takes a liking to one of the girls so we have one that stays very close by.

Once I've opened the door to the wild, I'll still provide dead gopher in their flight pen so they can come back and mooch until they are self-sufficient hunters. This is called a "soft release" or a "soft hack."

We'll be able to track the owlets using VHF transmitters. This isn't like satellite transmitters (which are very expensive) that just transmit locations that you can download every day. These transmitters require human beings to go out with a receiver and pin down the owls' locations by the beeping. Thankfully we have one person willing to help us with this task. We need to track them for a year to see where they settle and how they fare.

I'll let you know as we pin down dates for putting on the transmitters and for release, but it will be SOON!"

This is the first time that GHO owlets have been studied to find out when they get their adult hoots. Now we know!

Seems Bob Anderson is everywhere and is coming to place the transmitters on the 3 owlets. I'm going to really miss them but it's time for them to go out into the big world and be grown up owls. But I'm looking forward to Rusty and Iris making us some brand new babies in a few months!
Here's the latest update from the blog.

Friday, November 01, 2013
Getting Ready for Release
Now that all three owlets have their full adult territorial hoots, it's time to get them on their way. I have the radio telemetry equipment, but wanted to have someone with some experience put it on. I contacted a couple of experienced folks who would have been happy to help but were just simply too swamped. Thankfully Bob Anderson, although very busy himself, was willing to do it with Amy Reis on Monday or Tuesday.

The transmitter itself will be mounted on the central two "deck" feathers of the tail. It will be sewn on to the feathers, and will fall off the owls when they molt those feathers next summer. So the trick is to then get the transmitters reattached to the birds so I can track them for a full year as the MN DNR requires.

Here you can see the transmitter positioned on a dead owl (dead owls are great for practicing things like attaching transmitters).

These are not satellite transmitters, and I'll need to track the owls with a receiver, pictured below. Basically I tune it to the channel of each transmitter, move it around, and go in the direction that gives the loudest beeps. I hope the range on these transmitters and the good receiver I got will be able to handle the travels of the owlets.

Now before the transmitters are put on the owls we need to practice using the receiver to locate the transmitters, and involve the man who has agreed to help us track the owls. Kind of like playing hide-and-seek.

Once the transmitters are attached to the owlets, we'll keep them a couple of more days to make sure everything is going well with owls and transmitters. Then we'll open the door to the big wide world and see what happens!

Published on Nov 5, 2013 by Karla Bloem
These three owlets were bred in captivity as part of a vocal study on their species by the International Owl Center. Tail-mounted transmitters were put on the young birds a few days before their release to the wild. Bob Anderson and Amy Ries of the Raptor Resource Project provided knowledge, expertise, and assistance affixing the transmitters.



Update from the blog:

When it came time to put the tail-mounted transmitters on the owlets before their release, I really wanted someone with some experience to help put them on. I knew they were supposed to be sewn onto the central two tail feathers, but I figured a voice of experience could make the process go so much smoother. Thankfully Bob Anderson and Amy Ries of the Raptor Resource Project were willing to take a good chunk of time to lead this project, despite being busy with the Decorah Eagle Cam.

Bob is a very thorough person. He brought along an extremely solid thread used to repair wetsuits that "you can tow a car" with, according to Bob. It simply won't break down. He asked for all kinds of materials from us: alcohol, a squirt bottle, epoxy, towels, needles, boxes, and more. He walked all four of us through how the process would go before we ever went out to get the first bird. We were ready.

Catching the owlets wasn't too hard, although more difficult than their parents. The owlets didn't stay in the net when they flew in...they tried to get out right away, and all succeeded at least once. Patrick was the first to be caught and telemetered, if that's a verb.

I carried him in, his feet were taped with painter's tape to make sure he didn't foot Amy, who would be doing "foot holding" duty. His head was covered with a towel, he was laid on his belly, and I gently restrained his wings and upper body while Amy held his feet.

Bob separated the central two tail feathers and exposed the lower portions of their shafts. Hein sewed the thread through the four holes of the transmitter around the feather shafts, one piece of string wrapped several times around each shaft per hole. This was seriously a four person job.

Bob put epoxy on each knot at the end, we let it dry, and then Patrick was put into a box until we finished with the girls.

Each of the girls went through the same process. Bob was amazed at how well behaved they were compared to Peregrines. Patrick didn't struggle at all, and each of the girls only had one squirm session.

When all of the owlets were outfitted with their new bling and we had recorded which owl had which frequency transmitter, we carried them all back to their flight pen. We saved Patience, the last of the bunch, the insult of going into a box...I simply carried her out with a towel on her head.

We released them one by one and they all settled immediately onto their perches, ear tufts straight up to tell us they were not happy campers.

We'll keep the owlets a few more days to make sure there are no issues with them wearing the transmitters. Then on Friday evening we'll open the door to the world and let them go. I expect they'll come back into the flight to mooch food for a while until they're confident on their own, so we'll probably still get glimpses of them. And there's also a chance we might finally get to see Rhett and Delilah on cam too.

It'll be exciting and a great learning experience to see where they go and how far they stray...and if Victor hooks up with one of the girls. He's been single over a year, so he should be in the market....

Update on Patticake's feelings about all this:

The cams are down again today but no mention of it in their blog. I assume the plan is still to set the owlets free tomorrow night. I hope we get to watch them leave!

From the blog:

This morning at work I had the cams up and heard a noise that sounded suspiciously like an owlet hitting gravel. I saw one owlet missing from the perch, so quickly logged into the PTZ cam and waited an agonizing amount of time before I had video. I panned to where the other owlets were looking to find one of the girls on the ground with a rat that she had just caught. Right after I panned over she proceed to swallow the rat WHOLE! First time I've seen one of the owlets swallow something whole since they were 10 days old.

She proceeded to look for another rat in hiding, and a few hours later caught another one. That one she tore into bits to eat, as usual

All three owlets left their flight cage last night and are out in the big world this morning. The 2 girls left first and Patrick was still hanging around when I went to bed. Sometime before morning he finally ventured out the open window, too. The window will be left open for them for awhile in case they want to come back and eat. Karla made a video that she will upload later today.

All three owlets fly out the window to freedom.


video from EmmieJan

Rusty had his bad eye removed yesterday. Read the update on the blog at: http://alicetheowl.blogspot.com/

Also, here's a map of the owlets travels since they discovered their big new world! http://alicetheowl.blogspot.com/2013/11/...ts-travels.html

Great new article on the GHO vocalization project: http://www.wxow.com/story/23950217/2013/...ig-step-forward

Iris is enjoying her time alone at home today while Rusty is away and the owlets are outside roaming the world.

Since the owlets were set free the window has been left open for them in case they need to come "home" to get food. Outside there are 3 wild, free Great Horned owls that are named Rhett, Delilah and Victor. Rhett & Delilah are a mated pair that don't like Rusty & Iris being near and intruding on their territory. Victor is an unmated adult male. They can hear Rusty and Iris hooting back and forth inside the enclosure and want them to leave the neighborhood. For the last several nights Rhett & Delilah have been giving Iris a really hard time and have actually flown inside the flight pen left open for the owlets. They can't get to Iris because of walls between the flight pen and Iris but they sure would like to! Iris is worn out this morning from defending her nest area by herself since Rusty is inside the house recovering from his surgery. She did a lot of flying last night.