When Howard, a rescue barn owl chick, was released back into the wild, I had hoped he would be fostered by barn owls' Gylfie & Barnie alongside their natural clutch. But the eldest of their chicks, named Hans, wasn't so keen and so I released him into a box on his own.
Howard's rescue story
Howard was found on the floor in a barn on the Castle Howard Estate. He came from a late brood and when he arrived he was nine weeks old and a beautiful owl. He could fly, but only just and not ready to be living out on his own yet.
I tried to introduce him to Gylfie's nest, but her eldest chicks at the time, named Hans, wasn't happy and I didn't feel comfortable leaving him there. So I moved him and placed him in the Barn Owl Tower instead, in the hope that Barney, Gylfie's then partner, would hear him calling and come in and feed him.
