Barn Owls lay eggs for Easter
April 18, 2017
The First Eggs
Over Easter our Barn Owls decided to have some eggs of their own! The first was seen on Saturday 15th April at 7.25am but could have been laid overnight or the evening before.
The second was first seen last night at 18.54 by one of our keen watchers.
Compared to last year they are three weeks ahead of schedule. Last year the first egg was seen on 9th May and the second on 11th May. This could be due to the early warm weather, encouraging small mammals like field voles (their main prey) to breed earlier which means a plentiful supply of food for Barn Owl chicks.
Mating Continues
The Barn Owl pair will continue to mate. The following sequence of screen shots shows the male presenting the female with food and then mating. If you look at the time on the top of the photo you will see this all happens very quickly.
The owls will hopefully lay more eggs every two or three days, up to a total of five or six. Our female will mostly stay in the box with our male bringing her food. Although she may occasionally leave the nest to stretch her wings for a short time.
We will of course keep you updated with the latest updates. In the meantime keep watching the live feed and see the latest for yourself.