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Community Corner

Water Conservation Garden Barn Owls Now Proud Parents As Eggs Starting to Hatch

Just weeks after arriving at the Garden's nesting box, the barn owls eggs are beginning to hatch.

Hoot and Holla, the pair of mated barn owls at Cuyamaca College’s , have become parents!

The first two of the six eggs that Holla laid in mid-February have hatched. The rest of the owlets are expected hatch in the coming week. Elizabeth Ramos, events and marketing specialist for The Garden, said that there is often a lapse of a few days in between the eggs hatching.

“The four remaining eggs should hatch within the next several days, although sometimes there can be a normal lapse of a couple of days between hatchings,” Ramos said. “Since the first two eggs hatched from one day to the next, it is possible that one egg will hatch per day, in the order that she laid them.”

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Holla stands over the babies and the rest of the un-hatched eggs to keep them warm. But viewers can catch a glimpse of the babies when Holla stands up via The Garden’s Owlcam which provides live, streaming video of the owls online.

Newly hatched barn owls weigh only about ¾ of an ounce and their eyes will remain closed for two weeks. Ramos said the babies are very small, covered in a thin coat of down and they are entirely dependent on their mother for food and protection up to two weeks after they hatch.

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Pam Meisner, the educational specialist at The Garden, said the owlet’s adult feathers will start coming in about six weeks after their birth. Between six and eight weeks, the owlets will develop their adult feathers very rapidly. Once the owlets reach eight weeks old they will look like an adult owl but smaller, Meisner said.

Tom Stephan, owner of Air Superiority, the company that built and installed the owl’s nesting box, said that also right around this time it will be possible to determine the sex of the babies.

“The males are whiter on the belly and are 1/3 smaller,” Stephan said. “The females are buffy fronted and of course a third larger.”

In addition to the camera inside the feeding box, Meisner said a camera facing the outside of the owl box will be installed to provide viewers live video of Hoot flying in and out of the box and of the babies when they leave the nest.

Meisner said the owlets will begin to fledge (leave the nest) at about eight to ten weeks. In preparation to leave the nest for good, the owlets will attempt to hop from the owl box perch to a near-by tree branch.

“They test their wings for about two weeks before they make their ‘solo flight’,” Meisner said. “Each time they’ll get better and better!”

Meisner said the babies will consume their body weight in food each day, so Holla feeds the owlets often and Hoot is constantly out looking for food.

As the owlets continue to grow, viewers will enjoy a lively show inside the nesting box!

“Within two weeks the ‘owl box scene’ will be totally different and very loud,” Meisner said. “The chicks will be making lots of noise and constantly begging for food.”

Viewers might also catch a glimpse of something a bit unusual on the Owlcam.

“People may see Holla eating the egg shells after the babies are out of them,” Ramos said.  “But this is normal and is good for her as the shells have a lot of calcium.”

The Garden will post updates to its website once they see patterns emerging in Hoot and Holla’s behavior around the owlets.

“That is the fun part of all of this,” Ramos said. “Everyone gets to discover along with us!”

To help educate the public about the barn owls and their babies, The Garden is preparing a few educational programs for visiting schoolchildren.

To help further educate the public about Hoot and Holla, Pam Meisner, (aka Ms. Smarty Plants), will put on an owl educational program, “Ms. Smarty Plants Gives a Hoot,” during the Spring Garden Festival at 10 a.m. Saturday, April 9.

The public is invited to visit The Water Conservation Garden and to view the owl’s nesting box 15 feet up in the air on a large pole.

The Water Conservation Garden is a non-profit organization that aims to educate the public about water-saving methods and water conservation through the use of exhibits and programs. The Garden is located at 12122 Cuyamaca College Dr. West just before the entrance to Cuyamaca College. For more information, visit www.thegarden.org  or call (619) 660-0614.

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