Barn Owl Blog – The growing family
June 9, 2017
Sadly, this week we lost the youngest owlet. Unfortunately, as mentioned last week, it is usual for 25% of the brood not to survive to fledging.
On a more positive note, the remaining three are doing very well despite the wet and windy weather we have been having lately. Barn Owls cannot fly in heavy rain as their feathers are built for silent flight and therefore not waterproof. They cannot hunt in high winds because they cannot hear their prey. Luckily the male had stocked the larder well beforehand! The weather is set to improve now so hopefully he can resume his usual level of hunting again soon. You can see mum feeding the three chicks in the picture above.
Over the last week you may have noticed the male spending less time in the nest box now that the owlets have hatched. And if you looked carefully you will have seen the youngest open its eyes (typically at about 10 days).
This week, the eldest should start to develop its thermos-regulatory down called the mesoptile. This starts to develop at about three weeks old. Once this has grown, the female will no longer have to brood the owlets to keep them warm. Once they have all developed their mesoptile, the female will resume hunting.
Read the story so far – Barn Owl Blog 2017