Luna and Leonard are barn owls (Tyto alba) living in an owl box on our property in Monterey County, California, USA.
We have a video camera1 (with night vision capability) installed in the owl box, set to capture clips whenever there is motion detected. The owls do look straight into the camera on occasion, but they do not appear to be disturbed by its presence.
We are not able to broadcast a livestream in real-time, but the daily “Livestream Archive” videos are the next best thing (or perhaps better, since they are condensed to only include periods of owl box activity). Each archive combines all the live motion-triggered clips for one day (midnight-to-midnight) into a single video, with a running timestamp (US/Pacific time) suitable for fast-forwarding. The total run-time for each daily archive varies based on the activity in the box that day. Before the owlets were born, each archive was is typically about 60 minutes. As the owlets grow as nestlings and, eventually, fledglings, there is much more activity and each archive can run for multiple hours.
Let Us Know
Each daily livestream archive is assembled by an automated process; we are not able to review all the action captured before putting the livestreams online. Here’s where you can help. If you see something in one of the livestream archives that you think is interesting and should be included on the Highlights Page, we would love to hear from you! Make note of the timestamp in the video and use the Let Us Know form.
History of this Owl Box
We2 installed the box in July, 2020 and it remained unoccupied until Luna appeared in late November, 2023. After a few days, she was joined by a male we named Leroy. They were settling in nicely together but, unfortunately, tragedy soon struck. Leroy did not return as usual one early morning and we noticed later the same day that a barn owl had been hit and killed on a local highway. The timing was too coincidental, and while we could not definitively match the dead owl to the video clips we had of him, Leroy has never reappeared.
A new male joined Luna in the box about a week later, and we named him Leonard.
For the latest on Luna and Leonard (and, now, their owlets), check back here or on their Facebook Page.
- The video camera is an Arlo Pro 3, wireless, with a solar panel to keep its battery charged. ↩︎
- Actually, Humane Wildlife Control Inc. built and installed the owl box, and did a great job. ↩︎