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 been longing for another photo - thanks Dom - looks quite light there. Would love to add a barn owl to my 'tick list'. Bit concerned the little one missing out on food when the others seem to be perched more and more at the ' drop in counter' though lots was coming in thick and fast when I watched pre-dawn the other day so maybe need to do that again soon for reassurance. At least by the size of the other 2 I don't think he has to worry about being eaten though.
Finally caught the largest chick in the act last night:
It was closely followed by the 2nd largest chick but there wasn't enough room to perch so it hung on before falling back. It tried again later when the space was free again but only hung there again.
Lots of scrabbling sounds from the roof last night but didn't see any food deliveries.
So glad you put these photos up Dom, have witnessed this quite a few times but with my complete lack of computer savvy have no idea how to do it and probably wasn't very good at explaining what the owls were doing either. And arrows too - impressed! Was impressed when Hazel posted stills of the kestrels.
This is classic barn owl behaviour....this is why all barn owl boxes have a platform outside the entrance....barn owl chicks quite often do what this chap did and fall out! The platform is there to catch them...
Pudweena - Hold down CTRL + ALT + Print Screen buttons on your keyboard. Then open any image editing software and Paste (CTRL + V) the result into a new document . Might even work in Word or other Microsoft Office programs. You can then crop the screen image if necessary and save to your computer before uploading it to the Photos gallery.
I didn't see the chick fall out of the nestbox - it just fell back inside. If the aperture was a little wider it would stop one bird hijacking all the incoming food parcels!
Thanks for all the info. Dom, will translate all that later - you make it all sound so easy but will have a go when have more time. Meant to put my comment under your 'photos' here that it's a shame we won't actually know any times of fledging due to the box layout as sometimes they are up there out of sight for quite a while.
Must have just missed it but at 12.05 midday - smallest owl is eating a mouse!!!
Another photo of one of the adults out hunting yesterday evening:
The largest chick was also visible perched outside the nestbox entrance on the ledge. Almost too dark to see however.
A couple of video snippets showing one of the adult birds leaving its roost and hunting in a field nearby:
Well it's bright daylight and I only see 2 chicks in the box.