First hatchling of 2022

The first barn owl egg has hatched, 33 days after it it was laid, and the hatchling is doing well so far. The next egg should hopefully hatch in a couple of days. The female may even lay another egg too (but that would be unusual). We’ll keep you posted!

The male was out early this evening, an hour before dusk. He now has a growing family to feed so needs to get started early.

A day later and another egg has appeared; the eggs are hatching as more are being laid. Very odd!

One hatchling, four eggs (and five field voles!)

The first egg of the year

The barn owls haven’t wasted any time this spring and the female has just produced her first egg! She’ll stay in the nest box now as she lays more eggs over the next few days and the male will now do all the hunting for them both, so they’ll both be kept busy.

It’s early in the year still and the weather is unpredictable, but so long as there isn’t prolonged rain or snow covering the ground they should be fine.

Two eggs
Three eggs

Update 24 April 2022. Only three eggs this year (compared to six last year). It might have been the warm weather early this spring that started the female laying earlier than usual and the subsequent cold weather that stopped her after three. Whatever reason, three is what she has, and so far things are going well with the male bringing back plenty of prey. The first egg should hatch this week, fingers crossed.

Four eggs

Update 1 May 2022. 31 days since the first egg was laid and it should have hatched today, but we find the female has laid a fourth egg instead. Very strange behaviour: it might be she was waiting for the weather to warm up, or it was too cold for the first three and she’s started again. We’ll know over the next few days.

Just visiting?

A brief visit to the owl box last night by a new pair of love-struck barn owls. We’re not sure where they are from but they both have identification rings on their legs so they’re definitely not the adults from last year. One of them could be one of the youngsters from last year’s clutch, but owls don’t normally stay where they were raised. Wherever they’re from, it’s good to see that the owl box has potential tenants.

New tenant?

We may have a new tenant in one of the nest boxes! This female (we think) arrived two days ago and is still there. We’re not sure if she is one of the adults from this year who has come back now the youngsters have dispersed. She might be completely new, possibly a dispersed youngster from elsewhere: we’ll keep an eye on her to see if she is ringed.

House hunting

Now the barn owl boxes are temporarily empty it’s time to check them over and do any repairs needed. It might be time to replace the oldest box so we’re going to have a good look at John Lightfoot’s (from the Shropshire Barn Owl Group) range of new homes at Talon Nest Boxes. We have also identified a good site for one of his kestrel boxes: very tempting and it would be wonderful to have a different bird of of prey nesting in the field.

Almost gone

The three young owls are visiting the nest box less and less now as they gain their independence. They still appear from time to time to have a play around with each other and hiss hopefully for the adults to feed them but this may well be the last we see of them.

Our job may be done for these three but the nest box may only be empty for a few days so we need to get up there and clean it out and do repairs in time for the next tenants.

A typical night at the owl box

The youngest owlet comes out of the owl box to sit on the ledge soon after sundown, shortly joined by her two sisters who are roosting somewhere nearby.

They spend most of the night hissing and squabbling with a little practice flying but they’re not hunting for themselves yet so the parents respond to their calls and bring them food to keep them going. Just before dawn the older ones go back to their roosts, leaving the youngest on her own, at least until the next night.

They are getting quite noisy and we can often hear them from the other side of the field, at least five hundred feet away. They do need to start hunting for themselves as the parents won’t keep up the feeding: won’t be long though.

Here’s the youngest owlet settling down for a day’s rest after the night before. The field mouse on the floor is a clear sign she’s being fed well. The adults will have to stop doing this otherwise she won’t learn herself.

10 weeks old

The three owlets are spending the nights hanging around in the dead oak tree, jumping from branch to branch and occasionally flying off as they practice their flying skills. There’s not a lot of hunting behaviour yet but the parents are still coming back to feed them so they’re not going hungry.

First up, last to bed

The youngest owlet is catching up with her older sisters and is usually the first up in early evening and last back in the nest box in the morning.

She stays in the nest box with her sister during the day and they’re joined by the oldest owlet (who is roosting in a tree nearby as there isn’t much room in the nest box) in the evening for a night of practice flying and hunting, with the adults still bringing the younger owlets food during the night to keep them going until they can hunt fully for themselves.

It’s quite noisy out there now, but we think it’s a lovely sound.

Sorry about the thumping background noise: it’s a continuing problem with the Green Feathers camera.

Learning to taxi

The oldest owlet is almost ready to start flying: it is now hopping up and down Before any aviator learns to fly they have to learn to taxi! From dusk to dawn the two older owlets are practising leaping around the nest box and nearby branches as they strengthen their wings and balance.

The youngest owlet isn’t big (or bold) enough to join them yet but it won’t be long before all three are outside together. The adults are still coming back to feed them but will soon start to reduce the amount to get the youngsters hungry and encourage them to start to hunt for themselves.

Our new trailcam shows a series of clips from last night showing what the owlets are getting up to.

Here’s the clip of one of the adults bringing back food for the owlets. are getting up to.

Preflight checks

The oldest owlet is almost ready to start flying: it is now hopping up and down between the nest box ledge and the camera boom above it, encouraged by the second owlet. The youngest is still in the nest box, not quite ready to come out into the open air and join in the fun.

In a day or two the oldest will risk all and leap into thin air from the ledge for the first time and start flying.