Leave the nest alone

Eastern Screech Owl at the Point, yawning 4/29/06 [Could be the female from the West Drive cavity]
Photo by Cal Vornberger



A last word about PM and Lola's nest failure from Marilyn Konefal [a visitor to NYC but she didn't say where she's from] :

Hi Marie.

I've read the correspondence on your web site and I'd like to add a few words.

I visited NYC on Saturday with my husband. We were disappointed along with all the others looking to see feeding behaviors by this time. But we did see something wonderful - Pale Male and Lola.

I believe, like others, that we should look to learn from the past - because if we don't, history will repeat itself.

It certainly looks like the eggs are not going to hatch. Past experience shows 2 seasons went by before there was a successful nesting season. This is the 2nd year. So there should not be too much cause for alarm. There is talk about obtaining the eggs to see if what happened can be deduced through examination. You know that the temptation to mess around with the nest itself will be very great (human nature) to see how thick the nest is, what kind of lining there is, if the spikes pierced the inner bowl, etc. Each time the nest is disturbed it sets the whole process back. Who knows if this activity will push a successful year back yet another 2 years?!

Leave the nest alone. Sure, if another 2 years goes by without any fledglings, then perhaps that would be the proper time to research what's going on. But not now.