Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Are You Watching Molly the Barn Owl? Thousands Around the World Are!

 Meet Molly!

Molly The Owl is the newest animal star on the internet. A couple in San Marcos, CA, near San Diego,CA set up a owl box two years ago and got lucky when Molly and her mate, McGee recently made it their home. Molly laid the first of 6 eggs mid-February, with the first one hatching Sunday, March 21st. Thousands of people around the world tuned in to watch it happen. In fact, so many people tuned in, the website crashed and was down for four hours.

The couple told a San Diego news stations, they set up a web cam and watched the show unfold on their TV, but their 17-year old grandson showed them  how to bring the live feed to the world. More than 1.5 million people have tuned in to watch since the feed started to air on USTREAM

 Molly tending to her eggs. 
(Photo from CBS8.com)

There's a chat room where fans can talk to each other about the excitement generated from watching nature at work. Many people claim to be addicted to watching Molly and hang on her every move. While I missed the first owlet, named Max, enter the world, I have seen Daddy Max bring Molly a few mice for her dinner and even a rabbit. It's not much fun watching her tear into the meat, but I was mesmerized watching Molly feed her new baby. She's definitely doing it right, since the baby owl doubled it's tiny size in one day.
 Molly napping in her owl box
(photo from cbs8.com)

You can watch the family of barn owls 24/7 from two different camera's. The one during the day shows everything in bright color, while the nighttime camera is in black and white. 

Molly's coloring is just gorgeous and she looks soft and fluffy. She's really just darling. I must admit - I'm hooked. I keep the sound up, while I'm at my computer and switch back to the live feed anytime I hear her stirring.
The pink spot is the owlet!


Just a warning for kids watching, McGee swoops in daily to grab a quickie. It's always fast and furious and could be disturbing to those who don't understand. But these birds are wild - not someone's pets.

You can learn more about barn owls, the owl box Molly lives in, and other details about this bird family; plus watch video's of some of the things you've missed so far - all on the Ustream live feed.

Click here to view Molly's website.


Click here to view the Live feed.


Molly is also on Twitter and FaceBook! Check the website and live feed for details.
Daddy McGee


You can learn more about barn owls, the owl box Molly lives in and watch video's of some of the things you've missed so far - all on the Ustream live feed.


 Enjoy!

"It's so wonderful to watch an animal, because an animal has no opinion about itself." - Eckhart Tolle

***The second egg hatched Tuesday afternoon, March 23rd and they named the owlet, Pattinson after the school where they spoke to a group of kids.***

****The third egg hatched on Thursday, March 25th (my birthday!) and they named it Austin.***

****The fourth egg hatched on Sunday, March 28th. He's named Wesley.*** 

04/05/10: Alas, the last egg didn't make it. 
Molly (Taken from her blog)

But keep watching, because the owlets are growing so fast! It's incredible to watch Molly fluff up to gather all four of the little ones under her wings - and not crush them! I've learned that an owl grows to it's full size in 30 days, so we'll get to see how Molly responds as they get larger and mature. I'm so addicted!

4-19-10: Now the owlets are so big, Molly can now longer keep all of them under her wings. Today, she literally flew the coop for almost a 24-hour period, but finally came back. She and McGee both returned with food and fed each of the four babies. The babies slept most of the day and seemed just fine by themselves. McGee brought them food while Molly was away too. 

6-14-10 - It's over! The little family of wild barn owls have literally flown the coop and are off on their own now. Carlos Royal has turned off his camera's to the owl box, so we can no longer watch them in nature. It was very educational and a lot of fun. I really enjoyed this and thank Carlos and his family for 5 months of entertainment.

4 comments:

  1. Awww..this is so great..I'm going to pop over and watch the video's right now!

    :)Thanks for sharing!
    Doreen

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  2. Do you think the Owls will come back? I miss them. They were great! I remember watching them. Do you think a different owl will try and nest in the box?

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  3. I LIKE THAT GOOD PICTERS

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  4. I hope one of the babies come back or something to live in the owl box. It was really cool to have the chance to observe daily owl activity.

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