Tawny owls Bomber & Luna raise four rescued owlets alongside their own two chicks.
Foster owl family
Tawny owls Luna & Bomber are used to fostering chicks, so when I introduce a rescued owlet into the nest they take it in their stride. Within moments of meeting her new charge, Luna begins to feed it, and when dad Bomber sees the rescue chick, he lovingly preens it. Bomber & Luna's own chicks, Rocket & Nova, are also happy to accept their new foster sibling, and, in keeping with the 'stellar' theme, I name this new youngster Solar. It is not long before the eldest tawny owl chick, Rocket, climbs its way up to the nest entrance and begins spending its days looking outside. Nova soon follows suit, but Solar seems to prefer tiding up indoors. After a month in the nest, Rocket takes his first leap out of the nest and spends the night outside on the branch. Now Bomber & Luna stay close, delivering food to him on the nearby branches, whilst also continuing to feed Nova and Solar in the nest.
Younger owlets first flights
On the 13th May, Nova leaps out of the nest, followed the next day by Solar. It's amazing to see them out in the trees. A 2nd rescued owlet The owls are out of the nest when a second rescue arrives. I keep to the theme and name this owlet Pluto. I place Pluto in the now empty nest and wait forPluto calls And as night falls, Pluto uses its instinct and starts to call. At first, the calls seem to fall on deaf ears, but it's not long before Bomber arrives, with prey in beak. And once the tawny owl adults know Pluto is in the nest, these food deliveries continue. Pluto's first flight It's not long before Pluto takes the leap of faith and jumps from the nest. With four mouths to feed in the trees, I put out extra.
More rescued owlets
But then I get two more tawny owlets. These two are old enough to go straight into the tree canopy near the other owlets. Although this seems a lot for the parent owls, thankfully they don't seem to be able to count and I’m confident their instincts will take over.
Stock dove
Although the nest is now empty, when a stock dove tries to settle there, Luna quickly evicts it. In the stress of the attack, the dove sheds her feathers - this defence mechanism is known as a 'fright moult' and is a bit like the way a lizard drops its tail. Tawny owlets return Luna's reasons for continuing to defend her now empty nest becomes clear when the tawny owl fledglings arrive to spend time back inside the nest. It's been great watching the owls grow up - and I now have my fingers crossed for another clutch next year.
