Audubon Starr Ranch Web Cams

11/25/25 On 11/16/25 Sandy and I found a BNOW on the ground not far from the cavity. It was hopping around and unable to fly so I scooped it up and got it over to the Orange County Bird of Prey Center to get checked out. By size I thought it likely a male and by where found perhaps the male of the cavity pair. Just the other day I learned it had trauma to its head and an eye but was otherwise doing well.
 
Then on 11/24/25 I captured this clip from the Limb cam. My sense, and from others too, is that this might have been a new male. But it appears he got rebuffed… Any case, it’s just another glimpse into the behavior of BNOWs. I think we all know that mortality/disappearance of mates likely takes place more often than we might think and that replacement must occur. So perhaps this is what’s going on? If the BNOW in rehab recovers I’ll release it where I found it. In the meantime, life goes on… Pete

10/20/25 Jorge has updated the cam servers and successfully tested them. And just recently he successfully tested the new cavity cam. So now I have to go up to the cavity, mount it, and also check the video feed cable – which is a bit arduous. Any case, I hope to get this done soon and get live cavity video streaming again. Sorry this is taking so long. I will also check the trail cam because I currently have no idea why it’s being so flaky.

BTW, I captured this clip of a GHOW on the limb cam a few days ago. I suspect that the adult BNOWs weren’t in the cavity at the time or their might have been a kerfuffle… Pete

08/23/25 I’m going to have to shut down the Cavity and Bat cam feeds for a while. Among other things, the video servers are having some serious problems that Jorge needs to attend to and I need replace the cavity cam anyway, which may include pulling new cables, etc. Unfortunately this may take 2-3 weeks. So please keep checking back and if you see the video streams again you’ll know that Jorge and I were successful. But in the meantime, the Trail and Limb cams should still work. Thanks. Pete

07/31/25 Just a quick update that I’m holding back on going up to the cavity to fix/replace the Cavity cam because I can still see at least one fledgling hanging out there (on the lip and seen by the Limb cam during the day sometimes). So when I’m pretty sure they’ve all vacated I’ll get on this. Pete

06/12/25 I saw this on the Limb cam early this morning and thought I’d share because it demonstrates an important behavior that I’ve witnessed first hand many times and believe that it’s extremely important to several species of fledgling owl survival. Their ability to use their talons, beak and wings (flapping) to climb is, to me, remarkable and allows them to get off the ground and away from predators before their flight skills are fully developed. Pete

06/11/25 I think it’s safe to say: “So far, so good.” for the 3 fledglings. Below is a clip from early this morning of some “sister and brother together time” on the limb along with a bit of stretching followed by a clip of one returning to the cavity. I’m pretty sure that later on they all returned. Pete

 

06/05/25 Like it’s often said: “When it rains it pours.” Well, that’s been the case here the last few days both literally and figuratively. Thunderstorms the other day dropped 0.30+ inches of rain and the Cavity cam died – right when the chicks were getting ready to fledge! While I thought that the Cavity cam might have gone down because the power supply went bad like the last time I quickly realized that wasn’t the reason after I looked at the Limb cam and could see the nighttime IR light coming from it. To top it off, Scylla emailed me that it appeared one of the chicks went to the limb last night and failed to get back to the cavity. So today James (our seasonal ornithologist) and I poked around the ground and trees in the vicinity of the cavity tree but couldn’t find anything. I then climbed to the cavity to get a glimpse of who was home and to hopefully see all three. Well as soon as I looked in at least one quickly went up into the attic and another into the pantry. So while I knew there were at least 2 there I couldn’t confirm all 3. To top it off, one of them decided to bolt but I was lucky to grab it before it got away. And then I “encouraged” it back into the cavity (video is below). Though I think that this one was not to be denied because a few minutes after I came down it took off and landed on a limb near the cavity (video also below). The bottom line is that I think at least one of the chicks is almost, if not totally, able to sustain flight. And the other two are surely close behind. Since they are clearly at this stage and me going up there will likely cause all of them to bolt I won’t be going up soon to repair the cavity cam. However, once they are all out I plan to really go through the set up, try to make it more bullet proof to malfunctions, and also install a better quality cavity cam. Pete

06/05/25 It appears this might be the first time one of the chicks ventured out of the cavity. It was last night around 8:30PM. The video is a little over 3.5 minutes and at the end it appears that the chick tried returning and may have missed the cavity lip (see another chick looking down). However, all 3 are in the cavity so it made it back somehow… Pete

05/19/25
From early this AM. Methinks a VERY brave mouse… Pete

05/08/25 The Cavity Cam is FINALLY back up!!! I’m really sorry for all the down time, but this snafu was a bit of an enigma… Pete
05/02/25 Well, I went up this afternoon and while I discovered the camera power supply was bad and replaced it the video still didn’t start playing. Sigh. Anyway I’ll troubleshoot some more this weekend or perhaps on Monday. Very frustrating to say the least. But in the meantime here’s a short vid of the 3 chicks.

They look great and are certainly downy enough to stay warm until the female returns. And I also left a few mice. But again, while I think that we all know by now that I won’t interfere with them in general, this was just a “Sorry for bothering you…” offering. Pete

04/25/25 Turns out that I’m going to have to go up to the cavity to see if I can get the cam working again. So here’s my plan: Next Wednesday 4/30 the youngest chick should be 3 weeks old which should be about the time the female starts being able to go out to hunt too, i.e. not having to stay there to keep the chicks warm. In fact, if any of you have in your notes the post-hatching dates she’s started to leave in past years, please email them to me. Any case, if we have a warm day I plan to go up there just before dark to see if I can fix things. Something else, and I know this may be difficult, but if any of you see BOTH of them on the limb – or any other way that indicates they’re BOTH out of the cavity – please let me know. This will definitely confirm that I can go up there and not bump her from brooding the chicks. But, again, I’ll make sure the day has been warm and will go up right before it gets dark. Right now I’m thinking Friday, May 2. Thanks. Pete.

 

04/20/25 There’s something I’ve yet to figure out that causing the cavity cam to not function.  While it should have restarted on its own after our power outage it’s not.  Jorge’s checked the configs that allow streaming and they’re working fine – this is why you can see “ALIBI” on the screen, which is the name of the digitizer.  So the problem must be with the cam between the cavity and the servers.  But this presents a problem because if it’s at the cavity I don’t want to go up there while she’s brooding the small chicks and bump her off.  Any case, I’ll keep testing and trying to repair things from the ground.  Wish me luck… And I’m really sorry about these snafus that seem to coming often these days.  Pete

 

04/16/25  Ugh, I’m having trouble getting the Cavity Cam streaming again after a short power outage we had last night. I’ve contacted Jorge and I’m confident that he’ll be able to troubleshoot this better than me and get it fixed. Any case, we’re on it. Pete

04/15/25 3:30 PM PST Cox Communication will be shutting down our internet and telephones starting around 4PM today for updates, service, etc. and they may not be restored until late tonight.  So if the cams are down during this time that’s likely the reason. Pete

04/8/25 12PM PST IMPORTANT By now I suspect you all know that I had a major meltdown with the Starr Ranch website, including this BNOW cam page. But if you can see this, at least it’s been partly fixed. In the meantime Gretchen is going to try to drill deep and restore this page so that the comments are current and not missing the last two years or so… Though she might not be able to get to this until Thursday 4/10. But feel free to comment now as usual; they should appear normally. I’m also about to try to restore the 4 video feeds. So if you don’t see them now please wait a bit and refresh the page. I’m hoping I’ll have this done before 1PM PST.

Sorry about all this and thanks for your understanding and patience. Pete

1/23/23 I have been working with Jorge to try to fix all the cams. But the problems are a little bit baffling. I still don’t know why the Trail and the Limb cam aren’t working and Jorge recently identified a failed hard drive in the PC that powers the Cavity and Bat cams. So I’m trying to deal with all this but the fixes haven’t been straight forward. Sigh… Pete

8/22/22 Hey y’all, I’m really sorry about all the cam probs and will try to fix them ASAP. Was taking a little vacay last week but now am back in the saddle. Any case, I think the Cavity and Bat cam are now back up after a little switcher meltdown that I luckily was able to quickly fix. But the Trail and Limb cams are still frustrating me about why they aren’t working. Nonetheless will try to focus more on fixing them tomorrow. Thanks again for your patience. Pete

8/8/22 Trail and Limb cam update.  I’m having a lot of trouble trying to isolate why these cams aren’t working again.  Typically, when we have a power outage they automatically come back online when power is restored.  But this time it didn’t happen and I have yet to figure out why not.  I will keep trying and appreciate your patience.  BTW, being so darn hot here these days just adds to my frustration… Thanks, Pete

8/6/22 OK, the Cavity AND Bat cams should now both be back up, though I still need to troubleshoot the Nest Cams that are on the Limb and Trail. I’m quite sure I’ll figure them out, but for now that they didn’t automatically come back after our power was restored baffles me.  Stay tuned… Thanks, Pete

8/4/22 Tomorrow, Friday August 5, SCEdison will be cutting off our power to do some maintenance. This will likely be between 9AM and 3PM PST, so the cams will be off. When power is restored it will take me a bit to recreate the YouTube Cavity and Bat cam URLS and restore them to the page. Thanks.
Pete

3/4/22 I cleaned the bat cam lens today so hopefully you now have a clearer view of the box. Am also looking into buying a new cavity cam that has a built in mic so I can replace the current cam and not have to deal with a separate mic. So stay tuned. In meantime pls know I’m peddling as fast as I can… Thanks. Pete

1/28/22 I’m really sorry, folks. I’m just having a lot of trouble getting the cavity cam to show again on the page. Jorge and I are in touch so hopefully will be able to figure out soon. Pete

1/27/22 Sorry, but I’m having trouble getting the Cavity and Batbox cam YouTube feeds restarted after our power was restored around 4:30PM PST today. I just contacted Jorge who I know will be able to bail me out of this mess as he always has… In the meantime, thanks for your patience. Pete

1/27/22 Cams will be down for most of today as SC Edison replaces a power pole. Should be back up again around 5PM PST. Pete

12/09/21 We have been part of the CA Mountain Lion Project for a very long time with many cougars having been GPS collared at Starr Ranch and, as of last count, at least 5 using Starr Ranch’s Bell Canyon as a major movement corridor. Recently, The CMLP partnered with FLOAT to try to raise a few bucks via T-shirt sales. So if interested, visit: https://float.org/collections/california-mountain-lion-project. Thanks, Pete

11/28/21 Cavity cam should be back up. Sorry for the delay. As usual, Jorge helped walk me though the process once again… Only thing left to do is try to figure out why the Cavity and Bat cams don’t auto play when you load the page. Pete

11/26/21 Our power is back on as of 11AM PST and I was able to recreate the YouTube stream for the Bat Cam and get it back up. But am having trouble with the Cavity Cam. May turn out to be a cam hardware problem. Any case, I’ll attack this problem early next week. Will be a lot of cleaning up of wiring and connections, which I hope are the easy fixes to the current problem as well as the flaky audio and interference often seen on the video. Never a dull moment… Pete

11/25/21 Cams are down due to high winds staring last night and SCEdison cut our power for fire/safety reasons (There’s a 12KV power line that provides us our electricity running over almost a mile of dry grass and coastal sage scrub – so we get it…) Any case, winds are supposed to be calm again by tomorrow AM (Friday). If so, and and as soon as we get our electricity back, I’ll relaunch the cams. Pete

11/12/21 Thanks to some tips from scylla and Jorge – and me finally realizing that I had copied the wrong link, DOH!!! – all 4 cams should be up again. Sorry for the delay. Pete

11/11/21 Still having problems getting new YouTube feeds going for the Cavity and Bat cams. At least Firefox doesn’t like it although it was just a cut and paste of a new URL over an old one. Pete

11/10/21 I’m having trouble relaunching the Cavity and Bat Box streams. I’ve contacted Jorge, who as we all know is a whiz at this. So I suspect he’ll get them back up ASAP. Pete

11/9/21 SC Edison has to do a pole repair at Starr Ranch so our power will be down today from about 11AM thru 3PM PST. All cams will be off during this time. Also, it may take me a while to get two of the feeds back up that use YouTube streaming once the power comes back on. They’ll need new URLs. Thanks, Pete

8/12/21 I just took the HOFI cam offline and will put it back up if/when the HOFI’s return next spring. Chances are high that they will. Pete

5/11/21 I just took the Trail Cam offline and replaced it with a House Finch cam for now. I just noticed today that the HOFI’s had a nest at our office and, as luck would have it, the cam from last season was already in place. However, I’ll still monitor the trail cam and post vids when something interesting walks by. Like Earlier this Morning…

3/16/21 Interesting that the male has been a no-show for a while. Could be something happened to him, but also could be that he’s getting in the “mode” of roosting outside the cavity as he eventually has in the past as chicks start hatching and it starts to get a little crowded in the cavity. However, it seems a bit early for that. Any case, let’s just see how things unfold. Pete

3/14/21 Hmmmm, 32 days since first egg laid? First hatch should be soon…

In meantime, for those who sent me their t-shirt info as part of your egg pledge I need a little more time than anticipated to send them to you. I’m reluctant to go to the post office due to this covid mess. However, I’m fully set up at the ranch to weigh and print correct postage. The down side is that the USPS is getting pickier about what they’ll allow to be left at our mailbox for pickup. They’ve twice returned a t-shirt to Wynne that had the correct postage. It was because it was “bulky” that they didn’t accept it (?!). And this was not done by our really great mail carrier, Tim. It had gone through the system after he picked it up so he was compelled to return it. Any case, I ask for your patience. You’ll eventually get your t-shirt. Thanks. Pete

3/3/21
Thank you EVERYONE who donated to the 2021 Egg Pledge! This means A LOT to Sandy and me and really helps Starr Ranch. And also to PLowrie who kept this all organized so well!

For those who donated $5 or more, this is the T-shirt link for you to go to so you can provide the info I need to send you a Starr Ranch T-shirt. It uses the “old” Starr Ranch website look so there might be some bad links in the right side bar. But the form should work fine.

Note: I have plenty of T-shirts except that I’m out of Short Sleeve Adult Medium.  Sizes tend to run large so, if you think you’re a medium, a small would probably work.  Pete

2/24/21 Latest egg dates:
#1 – 2/12/21 – 9:13 am
#2 – 2/14/21 – 12:39 pm
#3 – 2/16/21 – 5:52 pm
#4 – 2/18/21 – 9:38 pm
#5 – 2/21/21 – 2:03 am
#6 – 2/23/21 – 11:40 am
Pete

2/21/21 Thanks to all who are pledging a donation/egg or contribute to Starr Ranch in other ways! Given that Sandy and I have to raise a few hundred thousand dollars every year to keep the wheels on Starr Ranch, this all helps! Eggs laid as of today:
#1 – 2/12/21 – 9:13 am
#2 – 2/14/21 – 12:39 pm
#3 – 2/16/21 – 5:52 pm
#4 – 2/18/21 – 9:38 pm
#5 – 2/21/21 – 2:03 am
Pete

2/16/21 The Cavity and Bat Cams should now automatically play when you load the page. Jorge discovered that even if the code included the autoplay command, they wouldn’t because YouTube was reluctant to have embedded video that might have mic/audio suddenly start playing upon loading a page and blast the user with unexpected sound. So he found the code to have these two videos load with the sound defaulted to mute. Which is a non-issue because neither of these feeds has audio… Thanks, Jorge! Pete

2/7/21 Gretchen told me that the plugin that allows one to add a pic to a comment is no longer supported. So she’s looking for another one. Pete

2/6/21 The Limb cam is now running and also has an active mic in the vicinity of the cavity. But two things:
1) If you want to hear the audio make sure the mic (speaker icon) is clicked to “on” in (usually) the lower or upper right corner of the Limb cam feed.
2)There’s a longer delay before you see/hear the live Limb cam feed than the Cavity cam feed. So while you might hear audio from the Limb cam mic it likely won’t sync with the Cavity cam activity. Pete

2/1/21 This is part of the nuts and bolts needed to keep the cams going. But it’s fun for me. Love doing it. Just wish there weren’t so many tech glitches to deal with. Then again, that’s just part of the deal. Pete

1/30/21 I started working on replacing the PTZ cam today. But among other things, mice have chewed a bunch of wires so I have a lot of repairs to do and may have to pull new wires. So this may take some time. But I’m hoping that if not by tomorrow, maybe Monday things will be back to “normal” again. (But is there any such thing a “normal” any more…?) Pete

1/29/21 Trail cam change is done. Pete

1/29/21 I’m about to change the trail cam to a better, hopefully higher resolution, model so it may be down for a while. Also, when things dry out here a bit, tomorrow I’m going to go up to the cavity after dark and after the pair has left and install a static cam in place of the PTZ to view the limb activity. It will also have a mic so it should be able to pick up audio in the cavity as well. Pete

1/29/21 All – Please don’t put your email address in a comment. It’s way too easy for a bot to grab it and then start using it to spam you. If you want to get in touch with another viewer just send an email to me and I’ll email that person asking if it’s OK for me to share their email with you. I’m happy to do this. Pete

1/21/21 I’ve emailed Jorge about the constant cavity cam buffering. Will fix as soon as I hear from him. In meantime I removed the 360X270 cavity stream. Was redundant anyway and just wasting bandwidth. Pete