The Celery Farm & Beyond

Screech Owl sounds (new audio format)

   

    The above image is a sonogram of Mrs. Ace making her after-dusk whinny calls.   

   To find out what it's all about, and hear what it's all about, read and listen on....

   [Note: Even if you haven't been able to open earlier audio files, you should be able to open these.]

    During the past week, I have been working with owl researchers to record Mrs. Ace's voice as she whinnied.

   

Modo mojo

   While my wife and I wait for Mrs. Ace and the robin to hatch their eggs, other birds are coming through big-time.

   A young grackle has already begun the age-old grackle tradition of pillaging our feeder, and a little mourning dove ("modo," as in "dodo," for short) was walking around under a shrub yesterday.

   Us, we'll just wait (and hope) for the big show to begin.

April 30 update:

   Mrs. Ace continues to sit on four eggs -- as we enter Day 29 (the egg was laid on Apr. 1). 

   My guess is that by sunset Tuesday we'll have a new arrival, with an emphasis on guess at this point.   

   Mrs. Ace stuck to her routine last evening, flying just after dusk for 20 minutes or so.

   While she was gone, I could see the four eggs, with no change. None seems chipped or cracked.

   This morning, she scratched around a little. Here's a video Download MVI_0179.avi , just to show she's still hangin' in there.

   A birder friend in Central Jersey with a screech cam and a female sitting on three eggs -- he's the chap who had a fourth egg go missing -- reports that  "everything is status quo.  The female is still incubating 3 eggs.

   "Both owls continue to sit together in the box during the day.  Estimated hatch date is about May 5."

   May 5? Man, I'm not sure I can wait that long. Every time I turn on the monitor, I hold my breath.

   P.S.: My friend in Central Jersey says  Mrs. Ace could have a hatchling "anytime, maybe as we e-mail."

   Not yet.

   

.

Robin eggs

   At last count, Mrs. R was sitting on three marvelously blue eggs. I have read that four eggs is standard, and that incubation takes roughly two weeks.

   Let's see ...

    The robins basically built a beautiful, perfectly round and elaborate nest out of thin air in a day.

    The female lays four eggs in roughly four days (it took Mrs. Ace. 11 days).

    And the eggs should be hatching in two weeks, vs. a month for screech owlets.

   Something to be said for birds that are the avian equivalents of "Type A."

April 29 update

   All systems in order.

   Mrs. Ace the screech owl on her eggs, calmer than me... 

   Audio and video in fine working order on screech cam.

   Any day now.

   No, really. Any day!

   No verbs today.  Conserving energy.

All about pipping

   You read that right: pipping.

    It's a birding term for when the baby bird starts to break through the shell to hatch.

   I am told that I might be able to see signs of pipping before any hatching occurs, and I've read an article from 80 years ago about screech owls that says that there's pipping in screech owl eggs for a couple of days before an owlet emerges.

   I had not even thought to look for "pipping" before, because I've never had a screech-cam before.  But I detected no pipping when Mrs. Ace went for her bathroom break tonight.

   I have been in contact with a pair of birders in nearby Ramsey, who have a screech owl nesting box in their backyard, but no screech cam.

   Lately around the dusk, they've seen some activity at the opening -- an indication that a female might be sitting on eggs. But it's only a guess.

  Forget about checking for pipping. They'll have to wait for a few more weeks, probably, to even see if any owlets stick there heads out of the opening.

   That's a magical moment -- when you first see an owlet peering out of a nesting box -- and a nest camera spoils some of that sense of wonderment and discovery.

   Still, at this point, I'll take the screech-cam any time.

   Even with a monitor on the four eggs 24/7, I am still on the edge of my seat.

Wood duck and robin nests

    Besides Mrs. Ace and her four of a kind, I can see at least two other nesting sites from the living room window.

  One nest is the robin's nest under the window.

   The egg count is up to two, and Mrs. R is sitting on the eggs right now.

   More conspicuous is the wood duck box, which I installed probably four years ago at this point.

   Until 12 days ago, I had never seen a wood duck anywhere in the vicinity of the box.

  Then the flood came, and I saw a male and female on the box.

   Yesterday, the male was back on the box for a while.

   This morning, I saw a male and female on the box again, with the female trying unsuccessfully to get inside.

   The two then flew off.

   I wish I knew what (if anything) is going on inside that box. Did anyone say "bird-cam"?

  Here's a photo of both boxes, located at 1 and 2 Nest Box Lane, Allendale, NJ 07401.

  Better to write to them c/o me, Jim Wright, the Record, 150 River Street, NJ 07601. All mail will be answered.

 

Apr. 28: Mrs. Ace update (w.video)

   

     Old joke: How do you keep a moron in suspense?

   New punchline: Buy him a bird-cam and have a screech owl sit on eggs.

   We are now 28 days into the incubation of Mrs. Ace, and I don't think I can boil much more water.

   Mrs. Ace is still sitting on four eggs. She still goes out at dusk for her bathroom break and pellet cough. She's just a lot less talkative these evenings.

   Stiles Thomas, the marsh warden, says these things always take longer then you expect (incubations, not bathroom breaks). And he is almost always right about such matters.

   So I am going to go on vacation for a week and then see what happened while I was gone.

   Just kidding.

   The truth is, I am addicted to monitoring Mrs. Ace and to keeping track of all the amazing things about nature that are taking place in the Celery Farm and other nifty natural areas of North Jersey.

   I will post any big news as soon as I find out.

   In the meantime, here's a Mrs. Ace mini-movie  to tide you over.

   The sound you'll hear is rain on the roof of 1 Nest Box Lane.

    The flick is short, so don't blink or go out for popcorn.

   Here's the video: Download MVI_0171.avi

Meanwhile, under the window

   The robin has finished her nest under our picture window.

   When my wife Patty and I open the shade in the morning, we typically see her for a minute or two before she flies off.

   Yesterday, Patty noticed an egg in the nest. The color of the egg is, sure enough, robin's egg blue.

    

This morning I saw the egg for myself. I grabbed a very quick picture of it -- and it is very hard to see, let alone photograph.

  As I have mentioned, photographing active nests and nesting birds for more than a fleeting second or two makes me uncomfortable. So what you see is what I got.

   I'd like to think that if you squint just a little, you can see the egg just fine.

   As of 11:30 Friday morning, the robin was sitting on her nest.

BIG snapping turtle

    As my wife and I walked in the Celery Farm on Thursday, we came across this sight in the Allendale Brook.

   It's hard to judge size in this photo, but imagine a manhole cover.

   Most large snapping-turtle seemed banged up a bit, but this one looked like it has been through a war or two.

   The big question is whether the turtle is dead or alive.

   If he's not there next time we walk in that direction, we're guessing he's alive.

   If there's a foul stench coming from the Allendale Brook, then it's time to get out the shovel.