Welcome to the Hoot House livestream! This stream is for the barn owl box on our property out in Wine Country of Temecula, California, USA. We are located about an hour north of San Diego and about 1.5 hours southeast of Los Angeles (driving time).
The owl box is mounted on a 14 foot post. We have one camera inside the box and multiple cameras outside. The box was put up in November of 2019. By mid-December, a male and female barn owl ("Winkler & Hootie") decided to make it their home.
Winkler and Hootie use the box each nesting season. Hootie laid her first clutch in January of 2020. Four babies successfully fledged from the box and find hunting territories of their own.
Winkler and Hootie returned to the box in May of 2020 to start Season 2. Three fledglings survived from this brood and successfully left the box.
Season 3 started in March of 2021 for Winkler & Hootie. Four babies successfully fledged the owl box in June of 2021.
Winkler and Hootie did not nest in 2022. We were thrilled to see them return in early 2023... they made up for lost time with a brood of SIX hatchlings that all successfully fledged in June 2023.
Season 5 ended in Spring of 2024 with 5 fledglings surviving. Season 6 started in mid-May 2024 and ended in the summer with 3 babies successfully fledging! We also wrapped up a successful Season 1 with Finist & Zilla, the Red Tailed Hawk pair and their three eyases (baby hawks), nesting on a platform nest at the other end of the property.
This area is surrounded with vineyards and open fields. The barn owls and hawks keep the rodent population down, so we are very glad to have them in this area. We started keeping track of food ‘deliveries’ to the owl box in 2023 and counted over 865 meals brought in by Winkler and Hootie in Season 4, and 770 in Season 5!
There is so much to see and share about this journey. Please check out the Twitch clips, our Instagram page, YouTube channel, Discord and Twitter. Most importantly, we would love to meet you in chat! We hope you enjoy this livestream as much as we do.
Here is a small vineyard about 1/2 mile away from the Hoot House. Note the owl box on the property!
The four outdoor cameras: Hikvision DS-2DE2A404IW-DE3 4MP Outdoor PTZ Network Dome Camera with Night Vision
Camera for the inside of the box - not Hikvision brand, however, is compatible with HikVision software and updates:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B085HKXZJ7
The camera facing the horse stalls is a Wyze Cam V3: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08R59YH7W
Each camera has a POE (power over ethernet) cable running down from the camera and all the way to the router inside our house.
Q: Are these owls pets? A: These are wild barn owls. We set up a barn owl box on our property for them to nest in. They are free-roaming and come and go as they please.
Q: Do they live in the house all year around? A: Typically, the mating pair will only live in the owl house for nesting season. For this area, it will be from approximately December through early summer.
Q. What do barn owls eat? A. Barn owls eat mostly small mammals. In this particular area, we have seen Winkler & Hootie bring in rats of various sizes, mice, voles, gophers and sometimes even rabbits. Although not common for barn owls, we have seen several birds brought in as meals! An article on www.bobvila.com states “A pair of barn owls and their brood can eat as many as 3,000 rodents in a single nesting season.” Natures best pest control!
Q: What are those black things on the floor of the owl box? A: Those are OWL PELLETS. Pellets are the undigested parts of a bird’s food, such as hair or bones, which are regurgitated (coughed up through the beak). Owl pellets are not droppings – and they have little odor! The owls will use these as nesting material.
Everyone is welcome and expected to follow Twitch Terms of Service (TOS). Please feel free to ask any questions. We will gladly answer them, although we are by no means experts and learning as well as we go along on this magical journey. Enjoy your stay and feel free to ask our moderators your questions.
• Our chat is English only! • Please keep your comments “family friendly” (PG13). • Spamming and trolling will not be tolerated. • No political, religious or sensitive topics. • Please be respectful to everyone. • No promoting other channels or platforms.
This is a wild Barn Owl nest and anything can happen. While we hope that all owlets hatched in this nest will grow up healthy and successfully fledge each season, things like sibling rivalry, predators, natural disaster as well as territorial disputes can affect this Barn Owl family and may be difficult to watch. The owls and owlets may consume food that is brought into the nest. This content may also be unpleasant, harmful or traumatizing to some individuals.
Hoot House would like to thank EVERYONE who supports this stream; whether by subscribing, bit cheers, raids, hosting, or just hanging out with us in chat. We have made friends from all over the world!
