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

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Attack of the Kestrels

When this hungry barn owl went to hunt voles in the winter sunlight, two kestrels had different ideas.
This barn owl was brave to take on the kestrels - or very hungry.
Daytime is when the kestrels hunt - and it is a right they guard their hunting territory.

They scrambled to scare him off - with their battle for the skies making for a breathtaking display of aerobatics.
The reason the owl was making a daytime sortie was because the cold snap has meant food is in short supply.
 The barn owl kept finding voles and mice but, every time, the kestrels attacked it. 'This happened several times until the kestrels had eaten enough and the owl finally got to eat its own catch.'

Both species have suffered moderate declines in population in the past 50 years due to the loss of their natural habitats.




Ordinarily, barn owls and kestrels co-exist peacefully.
They have even been known to share a nest box, the kestrels laying their eggs near the entrance and the owls at the back.
Adults might have to wait their turn when the nest box gets crowded.

As owls are nocturnal while kestrels hunt by day, they rarely come into conflict.
Both species have suffered moderate declines in population in the past 50 years due to the loss of their natural habitats.

The biggest cause of death to kestrels and barn owls in the UK is starvation.