Tawny owlets are adventurous
Tawny owls are notoriously adventurous. As youngsters they often start to explore their surroundings at just three weeks old - well before they have even learnt to fly. This phase is called ‘branching’ and refers to the way the owlets walk, climb, jump and flutter around the branches of trees around their nest site. During this phase, the adults are never far away and can locate their chicks by their contact calls. In fact it's not at all uncommon for owlets to spend time on the ground at this time and for the adults to swoop down to feed them where they are.
It's normal to find them on the ground
Around this time I often get calls from customers saying they have found a chick, seemingly abandoned. Thankfully tawny owls are very good parents and it’s rare that the chicks have actually been abandoned. Instead, more often than not, the owlet is perfectly okay and if it is left where it is its parents will find it. Sometimes an overly daring youngster has had a mishap but you still need to be careful about moving it.
What to do if you find a tawny owlet
If you come across one, the first thing to do is to make sure you have correctly identified it. If it is a tawny owl it will have grey-brown downy feathers and pink eyelids. If the feathers are white and the eyelids are dark then it is more likely to be a barn owl chick and in this case it isn’t a good idea to leave it where it is. Barn owls tend to feed their young inside the nest so a chick does need to go back in.
Be careful - wear protection
Apart from anything else, the parents can be very protective and you may get a very nasty hammering if you go near it. I’ve been knocked off my feet by a protective male before. It was like being hit with a brick. And I was wearing a helmet! So it’s not a bad idea to don goggles and a hat if you’re going to pick one up, just in case!
When to rescue
If it is a tawny owl and it has been in the same place on the ground for a long time I recommend picking it up and putting it on a nearby branch out of the way of predators. Tawny chicks are capable of clawing their way back up the sheer side of a tree trunk, so actually in the majority of cases you are best to let them find their own way.
But the time to worry is during cold or wet weather. Tawny owls are early nesters and often fledge as early as April so downpours are a real risk - and at this stage these owlets feathers are still soft and downy. If they get waterlogged the owlets have no insulation and they can get very cold and perish. They also can't fly.
Rescuing two wet owlets
Once, two chicks from the sycamore in the valley below my gallery got caught out in several days of rain. They had only just fledged and were soaked to the skin, their feathers stuck fast to their tiny bodies so that there was no way they could fly to safety. The wet owlets were in danger of getting perilously cold so I scooped them up and brought them inside to dry off.
I used my wife’s hair dryer to gently fluff up their feathers. The sun was out by the time I got them back outside so I propped my ladder against the sycamore tree and quickly, before the adult pair could tackle me, popped them back into the nest hole.
The owlets went on to thrive in my garden until September, when the adult pair drove their young out of the area to find their own territory. It gave me plenty of time to photograph them in various poses for future paintings.
Tawny Owl Chick, painted in acrylics by Robert E Fuller
