Today while I was checking in on Mama Owl, she looks good by the way, I was asked when I thought the eggs would hatch. I thought that last year I started taking photos around Valentine’s Day… so I looked at my old photos and at those posts and I think I might be able to see a cracked egg off to the side as early as February 20th. I was a bit confused because the first post wasn’t until March 3rd, but I realized that it was partly because I was trying to decide how to show my neighbors the owls and then decided to start putting the photos and videos on this blog.

So if you check out this post from last year, the first time I thought I saw an owlet was February 27th, but I also state that the weather was cold and rainy so I wasn’t going out everyday.

From the Wikipedia Great Horned Owl article:

“The stage at which eggs are laid is variable across North America. … From Southern California to northern Louisiana, egg laying is from early February to late March.
…
There are usually 2 eggs per clutch, but clutches range in size from 1 to 6 eggs (over 3 is uncommon, over 4 is very rare), depending on environmental conditions.
…
The incubation period ranges from 28 to 37 days, averaging 33 days. The female alone usually does all the incubation and rarely moves from the nest, while the male owl captures food and brings it to her, with the first nightly food delivery typically occurring soon after dark.”

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So as long as the weather is decent, I’ll keep checking in on her, because it could be soon, or it could be weeks from now seeing as how I don’t know when she laid the eggs.

I’m also thinking about how we could see the ‘dinner’ in the back of the cave in those photos, and there isn’t anything in the cave today… so I’m wondering if the ‘dinner’ was for the owlets and anything the male brings her now she eats when it arrives… hmmmm so maybe we just have to inspect the cave for signs of ‘dinner’ to know about when the eggs have hatched.

I’m no expert, and didn’t know anything about owls until last year and my knowledge is limited to that wikipedia page and my own owl experience. So if anyone knows when Great Horned Owls incubation period ends here in Southern California, I’m all ears.

Until next time…

~nic