Wildlife and general news blog about the Retreat and its environment

This morning we have a third hatchling.

Hatching seemed to occur around 7am; at 7:25 am the female barn owl was removing pieces of shell from underneath her, and then eating them.

The male owl seems to be doing a good job of hunting every night, leaving the female barn owl with sufficient prey to sustain her and the owlets throughout the day.

A second barn owlet has hatched around midday today.

Again the image is not very clear, but you can see there are now only four eggs, and to the right of the eggs there are two owlets, the newer one nearer the top of the image.

Lower down the photo there are some fragments of egg shell which the owl moved from underneath her about 50 minutes before this photo. She usually eats the shell fragments some time later.

The female barn owl left the box for about 90 seconds, giving us a chance to zoom in and see the small movements of the day old barn owlet at top-right.

View the video on Youtube

It isn't very clear, but we appear to have our first barn owl hatchling of the season (the fuzzy pink blob in the photos).

We had four eggs laid. All four hatched and all four owlets have grown and fledged successfully.

This morning there are no owlets roosting in the box. Last night one owlet was on the ledge but had to go hunting for itself as, for the first time, no parent brought any prey to feed it.

Over the last few days occupancy has been intermittent, and it is possible that one or even two of them may visit over the next few days, but soon they will be dispersing away from this area to find an unoccupied territory that they can make their own.

We have enjoyed seeing them all flying around the area, and perching on the ledge, between dusk and dawn for the last few weeks. Until next year…

This evening, for the first time, the fourth and youngest owlet, 54 days since hatching, has managed to fly up from the base of the nest box and gain purchase on the exit hole. Its first three siblings have been exiting the box for a few days now, particularly the first two, achieving this for the first time at 56 days, 56 days, and 55 days respectively.

The first two hatchings have quickly become confident flyers. The third-hatched, at the right of the group (with its first outing being only two days ago, and still quite downy on the abdomen) is less confident but is nevertheless flying around.

At 56 days since hatching, the first hatched owlet has managed to fly up the box exit for the first time.

It didn't venture out on to the ledge - it just clung on to the exit and looked around. The parent twice brought it prey and tried to feed it as it clung there, but both times the prey was dropped onto the ledge. Perhaps the owlet was too focussed on clinging to the exit to manage to coordinate a food pass!

Soon it will be venturing out onto the ledge, and starting to fly around. It will return to the box, because barn owl parents only feed those at the box, not any that have left and not returned (even if they are stuck on the floor and can't get back to the box).

Expect a second owlet to also achieve this same milestone in the next couple of days.

The barn owlets are developing well and the first fledging is expected in around ten days.

To exit the nest box they need to be able to fly up to the exit hole which is about 60cm above the floor of the box. The box depth is calculated so as to be difficult for them to exit before 56 days old. This is because if they leave the box too early, before they are good enough at flying to get back to the nest box, they will starve. Barn owl parents do not feed their young on the ground, they feed only those in or on the box. (This is different to tawny owls who find their young and feed them wherever they are).

The eldest owlet will be 56 days old just nine days from now. Expect to see a lot of wing exercising and attempted flying between now and then. Already I've seen the eldest one leave the bottom of the box briefly by flapping its wings.

The four barn owlets seems to be thriving and active.

These barn owlets now range in age from 4 weeks down to 19 days. They are beginning to replace their down with feathers. e.g. look at the video at about 12 seconds in.

The fourth and youngest is not so visible early in the video - it tends to keep underneath its siblings, perhaps for warmth as it is still not fully covered in down. Later in the video it is away from the others and easier to see.

All four eggs hatched, and all four owlets are being fed by the parents. They have all turned white and fluffy, having been naked and pink initially.

The male barn owl is still not very reliable at hunting for them, occasionally not turning up at all and some nights only bringing 2-3 voles (and other nights bringing 10 or more).

The female sometimes also goes out hunting at dusk and/or at dawn, but that is higher risk because in daylight predators may attack either her or the owlets in the box. Again this morning she was chased back to the box by a magpie trying to steal her prey.

The second photo of her with prey was from 06:22 yesterday.