The tawny owl is one of the earliest owls to nest and is often sitting on eggs by March. It nests in a hole in a tree, but will readily use specially designed nest boxes which replicate these natural sites.
I have been studying and photographing a pair of tawny owls that live near my gallery for three and a half years. Over this time, I've developed a few tricks to get a closer look at these mysterious birds of the night.
The pair live in a box that I put up for them in a nearby tree. Once they had moved in and settled down happily, I started putting tit bits out on a bird table in my garden. Other visitors to this table include a barn owl and a kestrel. But the tawny owls make the most reliable appearances.
Tawny owls usually lay three to four eggs but clutches ranging between one and seven have been recorded. From these clutches, two or three young will be successfully raised each year.
The female does most of the incubating of the eggs as well as nurturing the chicks in the early stages. The male meanwhile hunts both for the female, himself and the chicks.
After 32 to 34 the chicks start to hatch. Their hatching is staggered as owls will begin incubating as soon as the first egg is laid. This means that the chicks can vary in size from the start. Only the strongest survive, especially if food is in short supply.
The chicks grow quickly in the early days and the female will start hunting to keep up with the demand for food.
It isn't long before they also start to wonder about life beyond their nest hole and tawny owl chicks leave the safety of the nest at four or five weeks old.
This is quite precarious as their increasing adventurousness is well before they can actually fly. And, of course, their explorations take place several metres above ground.
Accidents happen and young chicks frequently end up on the ground where they can look rather helpless and abandoned. However, this is quite natural and all part of growing up.
Passers-by can make the mistake of picking up these young owls and taking them away, thinking that they are rescuing them.
Instead, it is better to find their nesting tree, which is usually nearby. It shouldn't be difficult to spot as there is usually a hole in the tree.
Put them either back into the hole or onto a sheltered branch close to the trunk so that they are off the ground and away from predators. Don't worry that you're not putting them with the other chicks, they are capable of climbing up vertical trunks with their claws and beak and will rejoin them if they want to.
Come dusk, they will start to call and let their parents know where they are and that they are hungry again.
Over the years, I've enjoyed spectacular sightings and have some superb photographs which I've used to paint from.
A few weeks ago, however, our arrangement suffered a set back. The male tawny owl arrived at dusk with his right eye completely closed. He'd acquired a serious injury, which could have been caused by a fight with another owl or an impact with a car.
I'll never know what actually happened, but his modelling career was clearly over and I was quite saddened to see him in such bad fettle.
His eye is now much better, but he's no longer the beauty he once was
Then, to my amazement, he started to bring his family of three chicks each night to feed at the bird table, which is just nine metres from my kitchen window.
The chicks bob up and down in unison and really are comical to watch. And the 500 watt light I've put up to watch them doesn't seem to faze them.
Tawny owls are devoted parents and will look after these chicks until September, but come October the parents will shoo them away and my new models will have to find their own territories.
So for now I'm making the most of the chicks, watching their antics until well past midnight each night. Perhaps I could get more paintings out of the arrangement yet. |
Wildlife Diary -
