Looking for the Owl Channel Blog? Click below please for the new location !: 2/3 to 2/4 One, um.. no make that TWO bunnies delivered, Dale in full "brood" mode, a quiet night: )

Saturday, February 4, 2012

2/3 to 2/4 One, um.. no make that TWO bunnies delivered, Dale in full "brood" mode, a quiet night: )

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to The Owl Watch! <3 and... HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Saavik ! <3 : )

6:21-6:23 pm Dale flyabout
7:05 pm Dale calling for Roy "in waiting position" must have heard Roy
7:59 pm Roy arrives with a Rabbit, top half missing It was large.
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNYb4BPWwEA)
8:00pm Roy flies off.

February 3rd Bonding and the treat of the night

Roy flew off about 2.25 back at 2.32 on top of nestbox. Went off at 2.33 and at 2.34 was back on lookout. At 2.35 they bonded and he flew off at 2.36

http://www.flickr.com/photos/68056695@N06
Thank you TweetKathleen and NatOwlLover!

Dale tests the Fab Four Egglets temperature : The Three Talon Touch !

Dale is too full for this bunny !

Swimmerfan provided a few excellent links
:
The Owl Nebula in Ursa Major, a glowing gaseous shroud shed by a dying Sun-like star. relatively nearby at 2,300 light-years from our Sun, so it appears 3.2 arcminutes in diameter - only ten times smaller than the Full Moon. The nebula's unusual name goes back to Lord Rosse, who found in 1848 a striking resemblance to the face of an owl, with two dark circular perforations and "a star in each cavity" giving the impression of two gleaming eyes.

The Owl Nebula
http://www.nightskyinfo.com/archive/owl_nebula/

How Owls Form a Pellet
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFQPd4R1kM0iVrlLtNTL9Li8wdIxH1_eSzAdJi4Ipw73Ixhd4zq2QQ_gC4jcX_bPiKzvZjIKsfep71H0Mg-ECdKJfhnlXLFsO1Ezc_J2dCKqrwhaBlWQMjjErTMXZyF16zJ3Sn5_lEAe8/s1600/HowOwlsFormAPellet.jpg

Please enjoy Sher67's photos

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