Film | Barn Owl Chick's Hefty Size Revealed During ID Ringing | Gylfie & Dryer

Ace the only barn owl chick is quite a size! Watch as he is taken out of his nest to be given his ID tag and weighed and measured.

Barn owl family
Ace the barn owl is an only chick. His parents, barn owl pair Gylfie & Dryer, had two eggs but only one hatched. 

Owl ringing
Licenced British Trust for Ornithology bird ringer Jean Thorpe of Ryedale Rehabilitation arrived here at Fotherdale to ring Ace and between us we examined the barn owl chick's feather colouring to determine whether it was male or female

A hefty boy
Although Ace has a dark rim of feathers around his facial disc - normally a strong indicator that a barn owl is female - he lacked the sparkles on his breast and his whiter feathers determined that this is actually a male barn owl chick. Ace weighed a whopping 400g - the largest barn owl chick we've had here so far and almost the size you would expect a tawny owl chick to be! This suggests that being an only chick has been quite an advantage to him.

Drought
Ace has put on weight in spite of the drought - thanks mostly to dad Dryer who has been providing, but also to the extra food I supply. Enjoy the debate as Jean and I discuss the possibility of Ace's parents Gylfie & Dryer attempting a second brood, and the risks of such a late clutch growing up in winter.