One of the nicest parts of my job is getting the opportunity to get close to wildlife, and sometimes I get the privilege of getting really close! Today we had a visit from a chap called Matt, who works for the Hawk Conservancy Trust. The trust has donated two barn owl boxes which we have up in the reserve, and Matt visits them a few times through the year to see if they are being used. On the last visit in July, he found 2 small barn owl chicks in one of the boxes, so he came back today to see if the chicks had survived.
The barn owl box is accessed via a flap at the back, and so to stop the owls flying out of the entrance hole, it is stuffed up. At first I did not think we were going to find any birds, as there was none of the expected scraping or hissing noise coming from the inside of the box. However, we were lucky, as the two little chicks had survived to fledging, and were sitting quietly in the box.
We wanted to ring the owls, so they were each placed in to a cloth bag, which helps keep them calm while they are waiting to be processed. The first owl to be ringed was a female, who was very docile, and the second was a slightly more feisty male bird. Each bird had a metal ring placed on its leg, which has its own unique number. This means if the owl is found again, we can find out who it is. The wing measurement and weight are also recorded, and this provides information on the health and development of the young owl.
The female barn owl being ringed...
Weighed...
and admired by the warden!
Matt then gave the box a bit of a clean out – as you can imagine, droppings and bedding start to build up over the years, leaving the owls with ever more cramped living quarters as the seasons go by. It was amazing to see the amount of old bedding, droppings and pellets that kept falling out of it! The owls must have much more room to stretch their legs now!
If you are interested in putting an owl box up, you can get lots of advice from the RSPB website, where you can find out how to make one, and the best places to put it. To find out more, just click on this link.
http://www.rspb.org.uk/advice/helpingbirds/nestboxes/owlskestrels/index.aspx
Keeley