Definitely suffering from deja vu at the moment… I’m sure you will recall Barn Owl chick Jordan from last year. Her parents were first timers and really didn’t have a scooby doo which led to Jordan being rescued and brought up by me. She was joined a few weeks later with Notley – you can see their exploits on the website Blog or Owls and Birds of Prey Rescue Facebook pages.
As the parents were seen visiting the box again recently, and we still had the camera in there, we were able to closely monitor their activities. And a good job we did! As soon as the hot weather started last year, the parents lost interest in the babies and the same happened again this year. There were three live chicks and one dead one in the Nest Box but when we checked on Thursday, only one remained and, from the triggering on the camera, neither parent had been back with food since Tuesday night. It appears that the others had been predated by a Crow or Magpie but there is nothing on camera so we will never know.
The decision was made to rescue the little one, that we have named Jordan 2.0, and he is with me for the next wee while. He was absolutely starving when I first fed him so had been without parental feeding for some considerable time. Fed him little and often so as not to overwhelm his system and he has now settled into a routine whereby he screams at me when he is hungry and if I don’t feed him quickly enough! He may be small but he is demanding! I would really like a friend for him, as they do so much better with one of their own kind, so if anyone has a single Barn Owl chick please contact me as I have a vacancy. As you can see from the photos, he is happily settled with his teddies and is ruling the roost from his cage. Will keep you posted as he develops…
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