A blog to share barn owl and other wildlife and general news about the Retreat and its environment.
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A courting barn owl pair settles into the nest box
11. April 2025 - Wildlife
The barn owls won the tussle with stock doves and others to occupy the nest box. A pair moved in a week ago and seem settled in for the season.
You can monitor them on our live cams.
The one that looks a little paler over the head and back is the male (to the right on the attached photo), and the slightly darker one (to the left) is the female. It is difficult to distinguish them if you see them alone and don't have the other with which to compare. If you get a good view on the outside camera in daylight you may be able to distinguish a couple of dozen small black spots on the white feathers on the flanks of one of them (though they may be hidden by the folded wings). This is the female, the male not having any such spots (the second photo shows the female).
The expected behaviour is that the female will hardly leave the box at all, or even not at all, for the next two months, so you will almost always see at least one owl when you look at the in-box camera. The male is supposed to do all the hunting, bringing food to her, and to her and the young once they hatch. Once the young are about four weeks old and getting larger and needing more food the female starts hunting as well.
Our experience from previous years is that the male doesn't always fulfil his role diligently! When we had a breeding pair two years ago (possibly the same pair) the male was not very supportive and the female went out hunting from time to time even when sitting on eggs and nursing new hatchlings.
The general timeline is to expect eggs to start appearing over the next week or so, incubating for about four weeks before they hatch, and the owlets remaining in the box for about 8 weeks from hatching. The box is deep so that the owlets can't get out until they are strong enough to fly and survive outside.
Unlike most other birds, barn owls start incubating the eggs as soon as they are laid, so they will hatch separately at intervals that depend on the laying intervals. Eggs may appear at intervals of a day or so, or up to 5-6 days apart.
The first photo shows the two owls ‘nuzzling’, a courtship activity.
