Although the Ellis Bird Farm is closed to the public for the winter season, the farm is still brimming with wildlife and birds returning from their migration.
Some birds, called residents, stick out the winter at the farm and have already begun nesting.
Ellie and Albert, two resident great horned owls - named for the original owners of the Ellis Bird Farm - have been nesting there for eight years. Currently, the farm has an ongoing video live stream of the pair as they nest.
“We are having a few technical challenges this year because we have had to move from one camera for Ustream to YouTube and so we’re having some issues with all of the equipment syncing. Another issue is that sometimes our bandwidth lags. We don’t really have the bandwidth to carry both the cameras all the time. So, we hope people will bear with us we will do our best to make sure the cameras are streaming as much as the day and night as possible,” said Myrna Pearman, Site Manager of Ellis Bird Farm.
When Ellie and Albert first arrived on the farm, they made use of an old Magpie nest. In time, the nest deteriorated and a man-made one was constructed from a wire basket and a few sticks and the coupling birds are believed to return there year after year.
“We’re not completely certain, of course, we can’t be because they’re not banded and we can’t track who is who. We assume that they’re a mated pair and they have been a mated pair all of these years,” said Pearman.
Pearman says around January the staff at the Ellis Bird Farm begin to listen for owls calling and other signs to show that the pair have returned to nest. This year, the staff noticed some depressions in the snow around February 2nd.
“At the beginning of the breeding season, sometime in the middle of January, we start listening for their calls. They return to the nesting site and go through their courtship behaviors and then they start to nest and we’re able to watch them when the webcams are working,” said Pearman.
Right now, Ellie incubates three eggs.
“We know through the webcams because there is people watching all across North America that she laid her first egg on February 29th, so that was pretty cool and March 3rd she had her second egg and by March 7th there were three eggs,” added Pearman.
Although owls exist at the top of the food chain, it does not mean they are invincible to harm. Pearman said there was a bit of a scare when one owl was found dead nearby.
“We did have a moment of stress because on the morning of March the 24th one of the security guards over at the Prentis site found a dead owl at the gate. We were just so worried that it was Albert. Elli is sitting on the nest incubating she relies on him to bring her food and so of course if he is killed than the nest will fail. We had some webcam moderators watch the webcam the entire night, and thankfully, Albert did show up so he is still there he’s still feeding her. The mystery is where this other owl came from why it was there, and how it got killed. The news is that Ellie and Albert are still on their nest they’re still incubating away and we’re just excited to see when the little ones will hatch,” explained Pearman.
Pearman noted the only true dangers to owls would be electric lines, or poisoned rodents that would in turn poison the owl.
Right now, there is not much action within the nest. Elli incubates, and occasionally, Albert returns to bring her food, or gives her a small break to relieve herself outside of the nest. Pearman says it won’t be too long before the owlets hatch making the nest quite a bit busier.
“Albert is hunting for her and he doesn’t have to feed her that much while she’s incubating but once the little ones hatch, he is super busy. His nights are filled with bringing food into the nest both for Ellie and the babies. Of course, as they grow up they eat more and so they’re very busy. When the young are just about ready to fledge and after they have left the nest they, are still dependent on their parents to bring food. The parents just work so hard,” said Pearman.
Pearman said the eggs usually hatch around mid-April. They stay in the nest until the babies are ready to fly sometime in mid-June.
To watch Ellie and Albert the video streaming links are located below:
Fri, May 17, 3:16 PM
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