In late 2010, at the age of 5, Alessondra was an unusually imaginative and communicative girl. She loved to tell stories, often embellishing as far as her mind would let her go. So it was with skepticism that we listened to her telling us that she was being visited by owls who loved to come sit on her upstairs bedroom window planter ledge late at night. We had seen pigeons and doves around the house, and just assumed she was mistaking them for owls.
Serendipitously, the very weekend Jeff took her to see the owl movie "Legend of the Guardians" was the same weekend Jeff & Deziray became believers in this far-fetched story of Alessondra's. Shortly after being put to bed, Alessondra tip-toed out of her bedroom and to the banister above the living room and whispered, "Daddy, you have to come see. My owl is here right now!".
Placating her, Jeff quietly walked upstairs, where Alessondra led him to her bedroom window. Together, they slowly and quietly tilted open her shutters to find themselves eye-to-eye, just inches away from a giant Great Horned Owl staring back at them, with only the glass of the window between them.
It confidently stared a moment, then silently vanished as it flew off. Alessondra looked at Jeff and with a smile, said, "It's my very own Guardian."
This began as a way to give Alessondra a close-up view of an owl nest that fortunately was made at our house. Ustream made it possible for Jeff to set up a camera inside the window overlooking the nest so that Alessondra could watch the owls from the computer downstairs. By streaming it on Ustream, the "OKC Owl Cam" gathered an unexpected following. Over the past several years, the stream has gained millions of viewers, and has received news coverage both locally and world-wide. It has now migrated to YouTube (and sometimes Facebook Live) as the platform of choice.
We are not owl experts, and we have done nothing to attract these birds. We are not academics, and this is not meant to be a formal educational environment. In fact, just as important to us as the learning experience is the community that results from the experience. Therefore, while the information provided here is well-researched, we can't guarantee it to be complete or wholly accurate.
We have committed to teaching our daughters how to learn from every experience we are blessed with in life. The information you find here is a culmination of what we've learned over the past few years, along with numerous contributions from viewers, our chat moderators, and people very knowledgeable about owls or birds in general. We do regularly seek the council of trusted experts as to how we can ensure the best outcome for the Tiger Family, but our philosophy is to not only remain as welcoming hosts to both the owls and you, but more importantly to remain simple observers of nature's best lessons learned through this opportunity.
While we've received many intangible blessings through this experience, we view it as a unique blessing that began with an effort to educate our daughters on many levels, and has resulted in inviting over ten million of our newest friends to join us in learning as well.
We hope you enjoy.
