The little owl pair have been spending part of nearly every day in our Little Owl box at Stow Maries Aerodrome. Denis and I have been watching the footage avidly, trying to get to know these owls and their habits and trying to work out which is the male and which is the female. The most obvious difference between the two of them is the head markings above the beak
The individual that is closest to the camera has markings that combine to form stripes. We think this is the female. We have called her 'Denise'. The other owl has a more random markings and speckles and this is 'Denis'.
It is difficult to be sure. We are going on the behaviour of the pair of them. The female seems to spend more time roosting in the box. If the male comes in, he tends to call and invite the female into the box.
This morning, the cameras recorded some very promising footage..... a food pass. The males will bring food for the female, to display his ability to hunt and provide. Denis appeared at the box with part of a vole. He then spent a while calling for Denise to join him inside. At this point, he presented the vole to her.
We are hoping that this is a very good sign that they are serious about this box.
Keep checking into the live camera. They most commonly tend to appear in the box as the light starts to fade in the evening.