The kids and I are having so much fun watching this wonderful web cam. It has prompted us to do additional research on the barn owl. Unfortunately, we do not have barn owls in North Dakota. We check on her numerous times throughout the day to see what is happening. We were fortunate enough to see one of them hatch. The host of the cam gets on periodically and talks. He takes questions. He is not an expert, but says he has read a lot of books to educate himself. We have even seen her feed them. Here is the latest dinner episode.
It is amazing to watch these little guys eat. There are three owlets and still two eggs to hatch. They have been hatching about two days apart. The first on Sunday, the second on Tuesday, and then the third today. So, there should be another hatch by Saturday and then the last should hatch by Monday. Then Molly will have a full nest with five owlets.
Some of the not so obvious facts that we have learned about the barn owl:
* Owls mate for life
* They live an average of three years in the wild and ten to twenty years (depending on the source) in captivity
* The eggs laid are called a "clutch"
* They continue to mate during the incubation period but no new eggs will be laid
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