- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
Last year it grew geraniums.
This year the red flower pot on Christine and John Moczynski’s fourth-floor balcony in West Bend is hosting a very different kind of life.
“Isn’t she beautiful?” says Christine, nodding at images on computer monitors the couple has arranged in their condo’s living room.
The “she” is a female great-horned owl they’ve named River. The question is the very definition of rhetorical.
The digital displays show the handsome, tawny bird sitting stoically in the 18-inch container. River’s head faces south toward the city, her tail faces north toward the Milwaukee River (her namesake).
Her eyes are closed, her ear tufts extend elegantly above her head. The pot is a snug fit; the great-horned owl pours over opposite sides of the rim.
The sight is as precious as it is rare.
A female great-horned owl sits on its nest in a flower pot on the balcony of Christine and John Moczynski’s condo in West Bend.
River is brooding two eggs in her red metal nest. Virtually around the clock, through a snow storm, in the face of tormenting crows, there she sits.
At intervals her mate, whom the Moczynskis have named Oscar because he sometimes appears disheveled like the “Odd Couple” character, shows up to deliver a meal or have a conversation.
“Why she chose this spot, we’ll never know,” says John. “But we’re very happy she did.”
Condo balcony becomes home base for pair of great-horned owls
The Moczynskis invited me to their condo Wednesday evening to witness the extraordinary nest.
The couple, both in their 50s and self-described nature lovers, has lived in the fourth-floor unit for the 15 years they’ve been married. The 5- by 10-foot balcony has been used mostly to grill food and grow flowers.
But a few weeks ago the overhanging structure acquired a different, wilder functionality.
It began March 12 when the Moczynskis noticed potting soil (Miracle Grow by brand) had been dug out of the red pot and flung onto the deck. A neat crater lined the center.
“We’ve never had a critter up here,” Christine says, showing a photo taken that day to document the mess. “We had no idea what could have done it.”
The next morning dawned unseasonably warm (the mercury would rise to 63 degrees Fahrenheit in early afternoon) and Christine decided to open the balcony’s sliding door to let in some fresh air.
She took one step onto the balcony and a mass of feathers erupted from the pot.
“She is screeching, I start screeching,” Christine says.
The bird flew off and landed in a tree about 100 yards away along the Milwaukee River. Christine clutched her chest and stood in awe. The flower pot mystery was solved.
And to her amazement, the container was no longer empty: it held a single white egg.
It’s not hyperbole to say nature showing up on their balcony has been life-changing for the Moczynskis. The owl nest is just 3 feet outside their living room.
“We knew immediately we wanted to do everything we could to make a safe space for River and not disturb her,” John says.
Couple observes, documents and shares images and video of the owls’ activity Being nature lovers, they also wanted to be able to observe and share the extraordinary experience. On March 13 John rushed out to buy video cameras and placed them in three spots on the balcony. The feeds are displayed on monitors in their re-arranged living room.
They created a Facebook page called The Potted Owl where they usually update videos and still images several times a day.
They are also working to establish a YouTube channel to broadcast livestreams and videos of the nest.
To help reduce stress on River, the couple keeps their window blinds closed or barely cracked and turn their lights down lower than normal.
Over the last two weeks they’ve learned some of River’s likes and dislikes. The coffee grinder is a no. British murder mysteries played on the living room projector are a yes.
Christine and John Moczynski of West Bend work in their living room on displays from cameras providing video of a great-horned owl nesting in a flower pot on their 4th floor balcony. How do they know? “She just stares at our door when she doesn’t like something we’re doing,” Christine says. “Then when we stop it, and she gets comfortable again, she turns away.”
The cameras have captured dozens of fascinating moments and taught the Moczynskis “a ton” about great-horned owls.
Almost every night Oscar shows up and lands on the corner railing. The owls engage in a “hoo fest,” John says.
At least twice the videos have documented Oscar bringing food (a rabbit leg and a rodent) to River.
River does all of the sitting on the nest.
And each night at dusk River briefly leaves the nest. The Moczynskis have timed it: the average trip lasts 14 minutes.
A second egg was laid March 20.
The timing of the egg laying and the size of the clutch are typical for great-horned owls. However the nest site is not, says bird researcher Bill Stout of Ashippun.
Stout has been studying and banding birds of prey in Wisconsin since the late 1980s; most of his work has been done in urban and suburban areas and has included about 700 great-horned owls. He visits about 30 great-horned owl nests a year.
Though the species is known as a “cavity nester” and will occupy chimneys and other human-built spots, the West Bend owls are charting new territory, Stout says.
“I’ve never had a (great-horned owl) nest in a flower pot,” Stout says. “This is unique.”
Stout says the female will leave the nest for four reasons: to hunt, to defecate, to copulate and to expel pellets (of bones and other undigestible material).
“But she does this all with great efficiency,” Stout says. “The eggs are vulnerable and she is quick to get back.”
There is speculation among some birders in West Bend that River and Oscar are the same pair that nested several years ago in a window at the former Lithia Brewery. The site was about one-quarter mile from the Moczynskis condo.
Stout says it is entirely possible the owls are the same since the species establishes and defends a home territory often several square miles in size.
They can also be long-lived: great-horned owls have lived to be 28 years old in the wild, according to the International Owl Center in Houston, Minnesota.
Among other great-horned owl facts from the center: They are active mostly during the night, especially at dusk and before dawn; mated pairs are monogamous and defend their territories with vigorous hooting; eggs are typically incubated for 33 days; young will begin “branching,” or flapping out of the nest, after six weeks and often not be fully fledged until 10 to 12 weeks after hatching.
The great-horned owls create a buzz and could be sticking around till June or July It’s also already clear the owls are creating a buzz in West Bend and, thanks to social media, beyond.
In West Bend the Green Dog Market created an organic cookie featuring the likeness of River and Oscar.
The Potted Owl Facebook page had attracted 2,000 members as of Friday.
Comments on the page are overwhelmingly supportive of the Moczynskis efforts.
“You are bringing so much joy to others!” wrote Sue Jazak. Barbara Pfeifer Woog said, “Thank you for sharing them with us.”
Noting River’s highly unusual nesting spot, Heather Christensen wrote: “Never tried to grow those before, but I’d sure like to try!”
River couldn’t have picked a more welcoming site. Christine and John are nature lovers who take vacations just to see and photograph wildlife.
On Wednesday evening Christine pulled out a coffee table-format book of brown bear, puffin, fur seal and other images the couple took while on a vacation to Alaska.
As they viewed River on the monitors, the Moczynskis laughed about past efforts to see owls on nature hikes.
None were successful.
“Now we have one living on our balcony,” Christine says.
The couple does not have children. But if things go according to plan, this spring they will have “grandowlets,” John says.
If the nesting process continues through hatching and fledging, the owls may use the fourth-floor site into June or even July.
The Moczynskis say they are more than fine with ceding the balcony to their wild neighbors for the coming months.
“Flowers are nice but owls are incredible,” Christine said.
