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Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Overnight deliveries: Mousie at 3:23am and rabbit # 296 at 3:53am

3:30 am : Both Ellie and Dee are at the Hideout. Roy flies in to greet them, without a treat. It almost appeared as if it was a sign that it is time for them to go.. not overly aggressive, but not a typical Roy move. Ellie flew off and followed him but he flew away.

　
How old are the Hero's today? Ellie is 87 days, Clark is 85 days and Dee is 81 days old.

For 1^{st flight Ellie was 62, Clark 63 and Dee at 64 days old.}

^{Clark 63 days old at fledge

Dee 73 days old at fledge

Ellie 81 days old at fledge

***For those who keep track, we now are officially at 296 rabbits ***}
http://www.flickr.com/photos/coulee/7208545408/in/photostream/

Dale - same position - http://www.flickr.com/photos/coulee/6681741691/in/set-72157626847618341/

Adding these two, 1st visitor, then Dale - http://www.flickr.com/photos/36837568@N00/7208263818/in/set-72157629752640730/?forumid=602621 and http://www.flickr.com/photos/coulee/6681706397/in/set-72157626847618341/ -- now noticing beaks and spots

Looks like the wing patterns are the same, the 3 white diamond shapes, the one long white line off shoulder and the two white big spots, with the molting making some minor changes. Also, notice the faces of both visitors

not to add to the confusion, here are two pics side by side of Roy and last night's owl

http://www.flickr.com/photos/49300434@N08/7211274134/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/49300434@N08/7211236540/

Sher took pics of distintive markings for future ID

http://www.flickr.com/photos/53907939@N08/6791704737/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/53907939@N08/6750663211/in/photostream

Dale's Mickey Mouse pattern: http://www.flickr.com/photos/53907939@N08/6730552657/in/photostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/53907939@N08/6722468579/in/photostream

Nice underwing Roy: http://www.flickr.com/photos/53907939@N08/6674507123/in/photostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/53907939@N08/6655273945/in/photostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/53907939@N08/6621797063/in/photostream

Roy and back wing markings: http://www.flickr.com/photos/53907939@N08/6596723063/in/photostream

Two more pics of Clark's under wings:

Page # 19 http://www.flickr.com/photos/53907939@N08/7080900583/in/photostream

Page #20 Clark wants to sell us a watch: http://www.flickr.com/photos/53907939@N08/6934173772/in/photostream

DebbieMango took Lone's pic from last night and her pic from January and stitched them together.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/49300434@N08/7212445060/

These 2 Dales look identical

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