Andy and I went back to ring the runt Barn Owl of 11 days ago - Boxing News.
It was good to see the four Kestrels we ringed then had now fledged, flying free but still partly dependent upon the adults.
The young Barn Owl was now big enough to take a “G” ring with all three siblings now looking likely to survive to adulthood.
Barn Owl
Barn Owl
We took the opportunity to do a little woodland-edge mist netting as early July should mean catching plenty of juveniles. Juveniles are newly fledged birds that are still partly dependent upon their parents but stick around the area they were born until they are ready to explore their wider surroundings.
We hoped to catch both warblers and finches so we gave it a couple of hours.
Including the Barn Owl, we finished with 22 birds for the morning, all fresh-faced adolescents apart from an adult Blackcap - 6 Great Tit, 4 Blackcap, 3 Robin, 3 Long-tailed Tit, 3 Blue Tit, 1 Whitethroat, 1 Chaffinch, 1 Barn Owl
Blackcap
Robin
Whitethroat
There are lots of Woodpigeons in this locality, and even without really trying we counted 150-200. A recent report from the BTO mentions that this formerly rare garden bird is now booming and that it is seen in around 90 per cent of gardens which put out bird food. Our own garden is one of the 90% and where the Woodpigeon is an all-day resident.
Woodpigeon
Thanks to garden feeding the Goldfinch is mentioned in the same report, another thriving species that was formerly rare in gardens. We saw a good sized flock of 25+ Goldfinch and other small groups with a total of 50+ in a couple of hours.
Also - 4 Tree Sparrow, 2 Whitethroat, 2 Greenfinch, 2 Willow Warbler, 1 Grey Heron 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Great-spotted Woodpecker, 30+ Swift and 20+ House Martins.
Tree Sparrow
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20 comments:
Hello phil: I think it is safe to say that the birds were the only fresh-faced adolescents present that morning! It is great that you were able to band the final young owl of this clutch and that there is obviously enough food around for all the hatchlings to survive. I am always struck by the wide range of sizes in a Barn Owl clutch and it reminds me a little of a human family with siblings of different ages lined up for a family portrait.
Sound to me like you had a pretty good day. I am delighted to hear that the runt is doing well. That little face is just so adorable and it actually starting to look a bit like a barn owl 😉
Hope you have a great weekend, best wishes, Diane
I mice mixed bag of birds - I am still to see a Barnie in Australia!
Cheers - Stewart M - Melbourne
Hello,
Beautiful birds, I love the baby Barn Owl. What a neat sight! It is great to see these birds up close while being banded. Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Happy Saturday, enjoy your weekend!
They are all so tender...the one I know best is the young robin.
Lovely!
Have a nice weekend!
owl is one of my favorite birds...Youngs look so cute
Hello Phil,
the young barn owl is really great to see!
in addition, 22 species were caught and ringed. The black head is beautiful to see. Beautiful young robin and also the warbler is beautiful.
I enjoyed your birds.
Regards,
Helma
Awwww, the owl is precious!! And another favorite is the young robin. (I'm assuming it's a European Robin that I like so much...so different than American -much prettier). You two had a prosperous day!
As always, I say thanks for linking in with us at IRBB!
wood pigeon and doves not same??
Sounds as if you had a fair day of ringing some new kids on the block. Happy to hear you returned and ringed the junior owl as I'm sure he was feeling left out with no pretty bracelet to show off.
We hope your weather remains decent so perhaps you can find more juveniles before they get too far from their nesting spots.
From your previous posts, good show on not giving up on the Sand Martins. The quail dilemma sounds all-too-familiar. Our Northern Bobwhite used to be so plentiful it almost reached pest status. Their similarity to the Common Quail in habits and tastiness spelled their near doom. Today it's one of the most managed "game" species on the continent.
We've been getting out quite a bit between rain storms lately. Hopefully, some of our awesome adventures will find their way to the blog.
A new week is upon us already! Make the most of it!
Beautiful birds - I really like the owl.
Sounds like you had a good day. Liked the photo of the barn owl.
Wow, what a striking shot. I wasn't sure if it was real or a hand puppet!
That young owl shot is amazing!
What a fabulous face in the fuzzy white feathers!!
My Corner of the World
Phil - some good news in this post. Hip, hip hooray! (The adolescent barn owl has a ways to go before it's "handsome"!)
It's wonderful seeing them so close. Good work.
It's great to see you at 'My Corner of the World' this week!
My Corner of the World
Great photos.
Just love the barn owl pictures …
All the best Jan
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