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Thursday, June 16, 2011

Egg Inspection! Screenshot by Cowliflower

Quite a few early in the night seemed very concerned about Dale "showing her egg" to Roy, or making him aware that it was there. Well, around 12:20am when Roy brought in a mouse, he got very interested and "nosey" (Dale was still of course on egg)... he got way down back behind her other side, face almost on floor like he was "looking"-- and she raised that side up just a touch. I really think at this point he had to realize the egg was there.

Actually I think he probably sensed it already; as animals have ways of knowing things in ways we don't understand. I personally don't put much importance to the female owl "showing the male her egg(s)"-- I have just seen just too many clutches where this did not happen at all. Think back to Molly and McGee-- remember how fast McGee used to bond and then bolted out of the box immediately-- he was never aware, directly, of Molly's eggs. And he only got a look at the owlets by accident the first time because he came in when Molly was gone.

I think "things may happen" where the male may get a look at the eggs, but I really think this is just something that "happens", rather than something that is "premeditated or planned" and "needs to happen". The female HAS to protect her egg(s) during bonding and right after, while the male is there, and isn't going to be jumping off and "showing her egg"-- this is her "job" and instinct. Now, if male hangs around a while, she may eventually get up, and male may see eggs and be curious, but this is just something "random", not really "planned". This is just my opinion, from seeing a LOT of clutches. But, for those that are concerned, I do also think that Roy is now "aware" of Dale's egg, after the incident last night.

Dale had 2 quite long flyabouts-- one 13 minutes, one around 20 minutes later in night. I -do- consider this unusual, as most flyabouts during these stages (eggs, early owlets) are extremely short, just minutes. But still this is not too long to harm egg(s) at all. It could be due to her inexperience. It will be interesting to see if she shortens these up!

Dale ate a pantry gopher(?) early (whole), then had 2 treats from Roy-- took one outside to eat it. This was as of 3am PDT. No flyabouts after 12:20am, and up until around 3am.
-- LoneStar

Thank you LoneStar ! (*)!

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12 barn owl fascinating facts

Discover 12 fascinating facts about the beautiful barn owl.
1 The barn owl was voted Britain’s favourite farmland bird by the public in an RSPB poll in July 2007.
2 Historically, the barn owl was Britain’s most common owl species, but today only one farm in about 75 can boast a barn owl nest.
3 Barn owls screech, not hoot (that’s tawny owls).
4 The barn owl can fly almost silently. This enables it to hear the slightest sounds made by its rodent prey hidden in deep vegetation while it’s flying up to three metres overhead.
5 The barn owl’s heart-shaped face collects sound in the same way as human ears. Its hearing is the most sensitive of any creature tested.
6 Barn owls are non-territorial. Adults live in overlapping home ranges, each one covering approximately 5,000 hectares. That’s a staggering 12,500 acres or 7,100 football pitches!
7 It’s not uncommon for barn owl chicks in the nest to feed each other. This behaviour is incredibly rare in birds.
8 In order to live and breed, a pair of barn owls needs to eat around 5,000 prey items a year. These are mainly field voles, wood mice, and common shrews.
9 Though barn owls are capable of producing three broods of five to seven young each year, most breed only once and produce, on average, only two and a half young. 29 per cent of nests produce no young at all.
10 91 per cent of barn owls post-mortemed were found to contain rat poison. Some owls die as a direct result of consuming rodenticides, but most contain sub-lethal doses. The effects of this remain unknown.
11 In a typical year, around 3,000 juvenile barn owls are killed on Britain’s motorways, dual carriageways and other trunk roads. That’s about a third of all the young that fledge.
12 Everyone can help barn owls. Leave a patch of rough grassland to grow wild thus creating habitat for voles, erect a super-safe deep nest box, volunteer for your local barn owl group, switch to non-toxic rodent control