Now the kestrels have fledged you can now watch our three barn owl chicks live via http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/a/arne/webcam.aspx.
They aren't very active during the day but watch during the evening as the parents bring them voles and mice that they catch on the heath and farmland close to their nest.
Feel free to use the forum to post any observations or questions and we will do are best to answer them!
Barn owl chicks take atleast 55 days to fledge which is a big difference to the kestrel chicks which fledged after 35 days. The oldest chick is about 50 days old and the youngest is about 40 days old so there is still abit of time before they all fledge. Female barn owls don't delay incubation of their eggs unlike the kestrels so there is always a big difference in chick size with the oldest being the most dominant and likely to eat its smaller siblings. It sounds gruesome but it is a survival mechanism and will see the older chicks through periods when food is scarce and often ensures that atleast one chick will always fledge. In the case of this nest they all look healthy and there has been plenty of food so fingers crossed for the smallest one.
Enjoy watching and listen out for the extremely scary noises they make!
have webcam OK now but no sound - anyone else? or is it because the hissing so bad it's been turned off?!
Ditto - no audio.
One of them has a lot of mature feathers showing through now. A bit of mutual grooming going on which is rather touching. The differences in development between them seem much more obvious now.
One just vanished again - where do they go exactly??
Everything seems to be ok with the chicks. I think they are very good at hiding behind each other so thats why they seem to vanish some time. Yesterday they were a little bit hot and were pretty active - they are still very strange to watch!
Just briefly on computer before out for the day. They are extremely good at hiding as often I've thought there were only 2 then another head pops up. But also I have seen one actually fly/jump up and out of view up to the top left hand corner hole where the parents drop down their food. On one occasion actually saw it jump back down onto the floor from the same place, presumably was perched up on the edge of the gap as know that's where the food comes in.
Again watched one jump up out of sight top left and haven't seen any food coming down for the other two this evening though the webcam does keep freezing, presumably the one perched up there is getting first dibs.
Of course while writing the other re-appeared and now a huge meal just been sent in - must be a rat which the one with the most mature feathers devoured himself fairly quickly.
Only one in the box at the moment, so presumably 2 up in the top left corner - can just about see at least one up there. According to the stats under the webcam I suppose 1 could be due to fledge any time very soon? The one down on his own trying to stretch up to the others just before writing this.
All 3 back together, the most mature looking twice the size of the youngest now.
It has outgrown the others very quickly hasn't it. Can't be long now. It's only when they stretch their wings you realise how well developed the feathers are. The infra red light gives them a whiter, downier appearance than possibly is the case.
A photo of one of the parents hunting nearby from a couple of nights ago: