After what looked like two weeks of nesting behavior, tonight we had quite a shock. 

Arriving earlier than normal, we saw the female on a small branch outside the cavity in bright light just after sunset.   The last time this happened, she had lost a cavity to a raccoon by Glen Span Arch.

After a few minutes, she flew into the triangle south of the bypass road, and then went into The Loch.

This is the fourth night we haven’t seen or heard the male.  We’re trying to come up with a positive explanation, but haven’t found one yet.

The movie includes a pellet being coughed up.

Saturday Morning Update:  The female was sunning in her Glen Span Arch cavity. The cavity she abandoned was being mobbed by two Blue Jays.  Their mobbing caused a squirrel to pop out of the cavity.  It would be ironic one of the factors caused Screech Owls to disappear from the park in addition to car traffic, city lights, poisons and pesticides, was an over population of squirrels due to people feeding them. 

The disappearance of the male is now a real mystery.  I saw a squirrel go to bed, way after dark around 7 p.m. earlier this week.  Could something have happened?  We should know in a few days.