If at first you don't succeed...
... lay, lay again. Yes, the Valmont Plant Great Horned Owls are back in business (thanks to faithful reader Julie for the heads-up!) After a nesting failure and the subsequent removal of the clutch, momma owl has laid another egg. It looks like the egg was laid shortly after 3 pm yesterday (March 24). At 3:04 there is no egg, but you can see the owl perched out on the, um, perch.
After that she looks like she is inspecting her accomplishment, and then she stayed on the scrape for several hours (er, nesting in her nest?), but a quick break around 7:24 pm to see what dad was up to showed an egg present.
All night, the owl only took a few breaks, none lasting over 20 minutes. Hopefully she learned her lesson and won't be taking off for hours or even the whole night without incubating the egg, like she did on her failed first attempt. Dad is helping out too- brought a nice little snack around 7:26 pm.
He also had a peek at GHOW-to-be when he delivered a chunky breakfast a little before 4 pm- looks like some kind of vole with a short tail like that? Oh, and for a minute I thought they were up to two eggs- but later pics show there is still only one there- I think the other white blob is part of her feathered foot. 
Anyway, I hope that the mom got her first-year jitters out of her system on the lost batch and settles in to hatch this egg (or eggs to follow) properly. Hopefully we'll also have peeks at what's going on with the Valmont Barn Owls in the coming weeks, too.
After that she looks like she is inspecting her accomplishment, and then she stayed on the scrape for several hours (er, nesting in her nest?), but a quick break around 7:24 pm to see what dad was up to showed an egg present.
All night, the owl only took a few breaks, none lasting over 20 minutes. Hopefully she learned her lesson and won't be taking off for hours or even the whole night without incubating the egg, like she did on her failed first attempt. Dad is helping out too- brought a nice little snack around 7:26 pm.
He also had a peek at GHOW-to-be when he delivered a chunky breakfast a little before 4 pm- looks like some kind of vole with a short tail like that? Oh, and for a minute I thought they were up to two eggs- but later pics show there is still only one there- I think the other white blob is part of her feathered foot. 
Anyway, I hope that the mom got her first-year jitters out of her system on the lost batch and settles in to hatch this egg (or eggs to follow) properly. Hopefully we'll also have peeks at what's going on with the Valmont Barn Owls in the coming weeks, too.
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