SNN (ScrollingNetworkNews) ✿ ✿ Our Mel and Sydney returned to their nesting box with plenty of bonding occurring..but after 2.5 months of Sydney in the box from Dec 2013 to mid Feb 2014, the lack of prey gifts from Mel ( perhaps due to the severe and historic drought underway in California)and they have forgone the nesting process this year as many other raptors ✿ Compared to other owls of similar size, the Barn Owl has a much higher metabolic rate, requiring relatively more food. Pound for pound, Barn Owls consume more rodents – often regarded as pests by humans – than possibly any other creature. ✿ We remind viewers that sometimes owlets may not survive - the parents will dispose of things in "The Owl Way" -viewer discretion is advised, this is nature and the "Owl way". ✿ ~ ✿ “Animals, like us, are living souls. They are not things. They are not objects. Neither are they human. Yet they mourn. They love. They dance. They suffer. They know the peaks and chasms of being.” ― Gary Kowalski, The Souls of Animals ✿ Each species is a masterpiece, a creation assembled with extreme care and genius." ~ E.O. Wilson

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Proper name

The young are called “owlets.” They are covered with snow-white down for 6 days. This is gradually replaced by buff-colored down which develops into a thick, wooly covering that is still in evidence for about 50 days.
The little owlets are hungry all the time. Both parents are busy night after night ransacking the adjoining areas to catch an unbelievable number of small ground creatures to feed their ravenous babies.
Adult plumage is acquired in about 7-1/2 weeks, at which time, after much practicing about the nest, the young venture out for their first lessons in flying and hunting.


Trivia Q: How many voles does an owlet eat each night?