Well, 'Owl' be darned...

Davis’s teacher sent home a link to a website that shows live video of a nesting screech owl here in Austin.

The kids have been checking it in class, and she thought they might like to watch it at home. It *is* pretty freakin’ cool… check it out.

http://www.ustream.tv:80/channel/screech-owl-cam---austin (sorry... not sure how to activate the link. Technology... d'oh!)

Chances are, you will see either the tail feathers of the owl, or quite possibly the back of her little screech owl head. And if you look closely, you can see a bunch of bugs and ants, crawling around in the nestbox. (Not sure why, but my kids find those bugs utterly fascinating.)

You probably won’t see the five eggs because she leaves so infrequently. She is in serious incubation mode. I totally understand. By the time it got to be time for each of my own little eggs to ‘hatch’ (so to speak), I wasn’t all that interested in getting my big butt out of my nesting box, either. Chances are good that she has Papa Screech Owl on speed dial to pick up Dairy Queen M&M Blizzards for her, too.

Yesterday, though, while we were intently watching it, chattering about how cool it was that you could see this live… how technology makes things like this possible (why yes, I *do* sometimes seize that ‘teachable moment’)… and I was explaining to the kids that no amount of tapping on the computer screen would make a difference, since she can’t hear us…

All of a sudden, Mama Owl swivels her entire head around and Looks. Right. At. Us.

I’m not too embarrassed to admit that we all screamed.









Okay...*I* screamed.

The kids thought it was totally amazing, and continued tapping on the monitor, much like they do when we go to the zoo’s reptile house or the aquarium. (Yes, I KNOW they’re not supposed to do that at the zoo or the aquarium, but I’m much too busy, canvassing the floor to make sure that no anacondas or big, hairy, bird-eating spiders have escaped from their enclosures, to keep an eye on my own children.)

Anyway, she was staring right at the camera, with her huge, round eyes. As the kids were jumping up and down around me, jockeying for position at the computer, shrieking and pointing, and yes, tap-tap-tapping… I decided I needed to try to communicate with this fellow mother. You know, telepathically… to tell her a few things.

Namely, enjoy the time you have while those babies are still just eggs. Nice, quiet eggs.
Eat some of those bugs as a snack.
Take a nap (or two) every day.
Watch some reality television.
Read a trashy romance novel.
Because before you know it, those little owlets will be clamoring for worms and juice boxes, and they’ll have poster board projects that need to be completed for Owl Elementary. And while being a mom is the most amazing thing ever, you won’t have a minute to yourself again until it’s time for them to go off to Rice University (get it?! ‘Cause they’re owls and all?).



I’m not sure she heard me. Um, telepathically, I mean. ‘Cause it’s not like I shouted any of that directly at the computer screen…um… nope… I. Sure. Did. Not.






Much. ;)