The beloved great horned owl Athena has returned for her 13th consecutive season at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, and once again fans can get an up-close view from home thanks to a live camera stream.
This is the second year the center has launched a live stream in collaboration with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The camera includes infrared technology, allowing dawn, dusk and nighttime viewing of the mostly nocturnal owls’ behaviors, from incubating to feeding to fledging, according to a news release.
Athena returned to the raised planter at the center’s entrance last week. Visitors can get a glimpse of her as they walk into the center – depending on how she is lying. She is pretty low in the nest now as she sits on her eggs. Mama owls have a special incubation patch on their bellies, designed to keep eggs warm. Once the eggs hatch, activity in the nest should be more visible from the ground as Athena and her owlets move around.
Great horned owls – which are named for their ear tufts, or horns – can lay up to four eggs over a period of days. Athena laid her first egg Thursday, and a second egg appeared on the stream Sunday. The owlets will hatch at different times.
It can take about four weeks for the eggs to incubate and hatch. Athena will then care for the owlets for up to six weeks before they fledge. Her mate helps hunt and deliver food. Their diets include scorpions, smaller owls, rodents, rabbits and skunks.
The camera feed will give people a rare, up-close view of Athena sitting on her eggs and then rearing her owlets.
“Athena and our wildlife camera have made it possible for people to have a powerful and unforgettable connection with nature,” Lee Clippard, executive director of the Wildflower Center, said in a written statement. “We hope that getting a close-up view of a great horned owl rearing her young will inspire people to protect and conserve our natural environment.”
For more information about visiting Athena at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, visit the website here.
