Barn owls' Willow & Ghost's first brood 2021
Thanks to cameras hidden inside a barn owl nest, I've followed the secret lives of a barn owl pair named Willow & Ghost as they raise their first brood of chicks.
Barn owl chicks
Willow & Ghost had three chicks; a clutch of female barn owl chicks nicknamed Ginger, Cinnamon, & Clove (or the Spice Girls)
Owl chicks get ready to fly
By six weeks old these chicks are preparing for flight. Their flight feathers are just showing through the fluffy down that covers their bodies and they spend their time flapping their wings, strengthening their muscles ready for those first flights.
When barn owl chicks leave the nest
The chicks grow curious about the world outside and begin to spend much of their time looking out of the entrance to their nest.
Barn owls' story
These chicks are the first brood by barn owl pair Willow & Ghost and they haven't had an easy start. Dad, Ghost, has been a poor provider and it has been up to me to drop food parcels into the nest. Find out more about their story here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLx...
Owl ringing
In order to ensure we can trace these owls, Jean Thorpe, who runs a local wildlife rescue centre and is licenced to ring owls, arrives to place an identification ring on their legs. This doesn't harm them in any way and means they can be traced in the future. As we handle them we notice spots, or sparkles, on their breast feathers - confirmation that all three are female. BARN OWLS
Weighing wild owls
I weigh them at the same time. Clove, the smallest, is a healthy 330g. And Ginger's wing, from from the elbow joint to the end of the longest flight feather, measures 222mm. But the waxy sheath, from which the feather grows, is still visible, showing that her wings have more to grow.
Barn owlets first flights
By eight weeks, Ginger has lost most of her downy fluff and is ready to leave the nest, but on her first attempt slips and falls. Thankfully all is well and she is soon taking short flights. Barn owls don't leave the nest as soon as they've learned to fly and Ginger joins her mum Willow on the feeding post and now spends time with her siblings inside the nest, coming and going as she pleases. Her flying skills still need to be perfected - as do the landing skills of her siblings.
A late owl brood
This brood hatched so late in the year, and with an absent dad, I was worried about them. So it is amazing to watch all three chicks fledge successfully.
