Barn Owls near Las Gallinas Ponds 2009

I have been passing by an Owl box on my way to the Las Gallinas Ponds for the past 5 years. I stopped now and then, but no residents appeared. This year, Penny happened by one day as Wildcare was taking Barn Owl chicks out of the box one by one to band them--all seven of them--and then putting them back in. We waited patiently for the chicks to fledge, knowing that they would hang around the box for a while to be fed by the parents. Finally, Sharon and I went to look, and there was a chick sitting calmly in the middle of a bush. We came every day after that, sometimes 3 times a day! We finally were able to count 5 separate chicks. Not sure what happened to the other two. I hope they fledged early and we simply missed them!