Looking for the Owl Channel Blog? Click below please for the new location !: 3/14 to 3/15 TEN assorted treats! Dale prepares owlets with increased flyabout times.. is today her last day inside theHideout?

Thursday, March 15, 2012

3/14 to 3/15 TEN assorted treats! Dale prepares owlets with increased flyabout times.. is today her last day inside theHideout?

Just the Factz Fling & Fly Report: Total TEN (10) treats: THREE rabbits, FIVE mice, ONE vole and One Mystery Rodent. Dale increases her flyabout times, readying the owlets for her daytime departure from the box. Bunnies # 128, 129 and 130!

Our heroes today are Ellie 25 days, Clark 23 days and Dee 19 days.
What a fun night watching the Hero Family! The owlets and Dale ate well, with one treat being moved around constantly, and as we Owlie people love to name everything, it sometimes became the "sofa", and evolved into a "loveseat".. Eventually consumed!

Dale and Roy spent some kissytime on the porch, and our OCG continues to amaze and provide US with more treats: Fantastic camera zooms on the couple on the porch...

The heroes have now reached the stage where Dale will leave for the day and roost outside with Roy. This is always a bittersweet "landmark" for viewers: we miss having Dale inside, but then we get to enjoy Owlet Antics galore..

The average time the Mother Owl leaves, as seen in past owl box history, is when the youngest owlet is 22 days old. Dee is 19 days old. Will today be her last day inside? Tune in and see!

"I am Not An Owl"- Dkowen's O.C.

Today's Daytime Slideshow

The following is from Molly and McGee, Clutch 2. This is a photo of the first day Ashley and Carrie were "Home Alone". The date is August 25th. Ashley and Carrie hatch dates were August 7th and August 8th. This puts them "Home Alone" at approx days 17 and 18 !

Aug 25 kissy face- Ashley and Carrie-First day alone in the box..

Ashley and Carrie, August 25th, 2010 Their first day "Alone" in the Owl Box

Hatch Dates were August 7th and 8th

Ashley and Carrie, August 25th

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