http://www.internationalowlcenter.org/ou...ndiris/livecams

I have been watching this cam on and off. These GHO's have 3 owlets and I'm not exactly sure how old they are. What makes this cam so interesting is that these owlets will remain with their parents for much longer than they would in the wild so they can study vocalization development. I don't think there has been very much study into this area of GHO's so this should really be interesting.

Channel Information:
Meet Rusty and Iris, two Great Horned Owls who can't live in the wild but CAN breed in captivity to help us learn more about the vocalizations of their species. Rusty was hit by a car and is blind in his right eye, and Iris's right eye was punctured, leaving her blind in her right eye also. They are still wild owls and need their privacy to breed, so they are housed on private property in rural Houston. But this video stream allows you to share their lives from anywhere in the world.

WHY ARE THESE OWLS IN CAPTIVITY?
Rusty and Iris cannot live in the wild because they are both blind in one eye. They are held under permits from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Minnesota Department of Natural Resources as part of a research project to study their vocalizations. This captive breeding situation will help:
• Document the complete vocal repertoire of the Great Horned Owl and associated behaviors
• Track the development of the territorial hoot in young owls
• Determine the stability of the territorial hoot of individual owls over time
• Determine if there are inherited territorial hoot characteristics
This research will help future Great Horned Owl researchers understand their study subjects much better and may lessen the need to capture and mark owls to identify individuals.

History of Rusty and Iris
Rusty was hit by a car as an adult and admitted to the Raptor Education Group, Inc. in Antigo, WI in 2007?? He is permanently blind in his right eye so he doesn't have binocular vision and wouldn't be able to hunt well enough to provide for a family in the wild.

Iris was admitted to the Raptor Education Group as an adult with a puncture to her right eye in 2006?? Her injury distorted her pupil and damaged her eye enough that it is unlikely she can see out of her right eye, making it doubtful that she could survive well in the wild.

While living at the Raptor Education Group in a cage with many other Great Horned Owls, Rusty and Iris started preferentially "hanging out" together, so Executive Director Marge Gibson thought they would likely make a good breeding pair and offered them to Karla for her research project.

It took several years before their new, spacious home in Houston was built. In the meantime they served as foster parents at REGI for an orphaned owlet in 2009. They moved to Houston in October of 2010.

Although they copulated starting in February of 2011, they did not lay eggs that first year. This probably had to do with not being settled enough in their new home and Scarlett Owl Hara, a wild, unmated female Great Horned Owl that harassed them daily for months, apparently trying to convince Rusty to be her mate.

Scarlett found her own mate in the fall of 2011 and Rusty and Iris laid eggs in late January 2012. Iris incubated dutifully, but the eggs failed to hatch. An examination of the eggs revealed fully developed chicks that died days before hatching. Arnold van den Burg, an expert on unhatched eggs, suspects the eggs overheated based on photos of the unhatched chicks.

What will happen to Rusty and Iris' young?
The plan is to keep Rusty and Iris' owlets in captivity until they develop their full territorial hoots. They will likely be separated into the flight cage and Rusty and Iris into the breeding cage in the fall when the young would naturally disperse from their parents. They can develop their flight muscles in the 60 foot long cage and learn to kill live prey once they are ready for release.

There is a door on the far end of the flight cage that can be opened to release them to the wild. Food will still be provided in their cage and the door left open until they no longer are returning for food, which would indicate they are self-sufficient hunters. (This is called "hacking.")

A few young may go into long-term captivity situations so their vocalizations can be tracked over their lifetime.

I've kept up with EmmieJan's videos of them and this one is so cute. Listen to the little ones imitate the parents hooting with their baby hiss! Awesome!

Thanks Emmie!

*I just went into their chat and asked about their ages.
rose1051: the owlets are 40, 37, and 33 days old today

Here's Emmie's latest video showing Patience and Patrick close up and a few new pics.

They have grown so much! Catch up on all the updates on their blog. http://www.alicetheowl.blogspot.com/

Video from Karla Bloem of the owlets first live prey published on June 2, 2013
Here is her description:
Rusty and Iris the Great Horned Owls are both blind in their right eyes, so live in captivity as part of a breeding project to study their vocalizations. They have three live owlets that need to learn to hunt live prey so they can be prepared for their eventual release. This video shows the first two live mice released into their flight pen. Rusty catches the first. An owlet flies after the second, the does a defense display to the small rat. Iris comes barreling in on foot and catches the rat.

I watched as 2 live rats were released tonight in the GHO cage. It took Patrick (one of the owlets) about 90 seconds to hear it and snatch it away! After that, the rat that was left ran underneath something in the cage in an attempt to hide. Two of the owlets were waiting for it. It didn't have a chance! Amazing to see how fast they hear something and zero right in on it.

More pics in gallery.

Alarm Calls By Owlet
Karla Bloem
Published on Jun 15, 2013


Adult female Great Horned Owls normally make a double squawk as an alarm call to the family when danger is near. Here, one of the owlets has taken on the role of the alarm call, and the mother didn't join in. This is the first time this vocalization has been recorded by an owlet.

The adults, Rusty and Iris, are blind in their right eyes and unable to live in the wild. They are breeding in captivity as part of a vocal study on their species. www.internationalowlcenter.org.

Rain Shower!

Published on Jun 13, 2013 by Karla Bloem

These owlets are three months old and are enjoying showering in the rain.

Great Horned Owlets Playing With Each Others' Feet

The owlets are being weaned from free handout meals and are being trained to hunt live prey that's released every night. Karla, the Owl Center chat/caretaker, said last night the owlets didn't try very hard to catch the mice that were released and some of them escaped into the wall leaving hungry owlets behind. They are really hungry today and were trying to dismantle the food ledge where they are used to getting their drive-thru happy meals. No meals today and they just can't believe it! They were trying to take the astro turf up to make sure their food didn't end up underneath it and bumping against the door where they know the food comes through. They are so cute taking their stuffed critters around with them in their talons. They have a stuffed mouse in the video and they also have another one they play with a lot that has a cheese hat on. They had a lemming but they destroyed it. After they "unstuffed" it they played with the stuffing and the rag they turned the lemming into. I bet they will be more eager tonight to catch those live mice they are offered.

Here's a video I made of them trying to get service at their local fast food window.

Zoooom!
I was fascinated watching this owlet use it's foot like a hand.

Fascinating, Patti! So if a GHO has this much dexterity, how come he/she can't build a nest?

This is SO cute!

Published on Aug 13, 2013

These owlets are part of a breeding project to study the vocalizations of the Great Horned Owl. This owlet, probably the oldest female, is doing her first hoots since about four weeks of age. This is in response to the wild resident owls hooting in the yard for a couple of hours previously. The owlets were just separated from their parents about 15 hours before this. www.internationalowlcenter.org.

He sounds like Vinny when he gets excited about something outside. ROFL That squeaky high pitched bark or hoot will get you every time.
It surprises me that there isn't information readily available on the development of the GHO vocalizations. Maybe it shouldn't. So much to learn.....

So cute!

Published on Aug 18, 2013

Owls dream, even owlets that are learning to hoot. In this video the owlet on the right first chitters in its sleep (an annoyed sound), then does a mumbled "teenager hoot". It is not physically developed enough to have a mature sounding hoot, so it is squeaky. It woke itself up with the hoot.

These owlets are part of a vocal study on their species conducted by the International Owl Center. View their live video feed at www.InternationalOwlCenter.org

I went into Rusty and Iris chat this morning on a mission to learn how to tell Rusty and Iris apart. Rusty has more white on his chest than Iris. I am told sometimes the lighting makes it easy to tell who is who, other times not so much. I got lucky this morning.

Iris is in 1st pic below and Rusty in 2nd.

New video from Emmie