29th August - growing well

The three chicks are now 6-7 weeks old and are now looking more like Barn Owls than the 'balls of fluff' earlier.   They are also much more mobile and often wander to the front section of the nestbox out of camera view.    The good long range weather forecast and the fact that prey is plentiful during periods of harvesting local wheatfields gives a promising prognosis for these youngsters.    Other Barn Owls in the area are doing much better than we thought possible at the start of the season.

11th August - ringing visit

The three chicks were ringed this morning where it was found that they are all females.  They were very fat, and are obviously being well fed.  Chicks can be aged according to how much of the wing feathers are unfurled out of their quills.  Measurements suggest that the chicks were 37, 33 and 28 days old, whereas we know that they are actually 35,29 and 26 days old, so they are developing slightly quicker than normal.  This may be down to the amiount of prey available.  There are six more pairs of Barn Owls in the same area as this box, so this area has not been too badly affected by the prolonged winter.

the three female chicks - left hand bird is 9 days younger than right hand bird