Hatching Little "Hooters"

I’m sure if you read the WBS blog or the WBS Facebook page you have seen the advertisements for our Owl Prowls.

This is the time of year when our owls’ wild brethren give a hoot.  Owls will defend territory or call out to a mate with their hoots.  Even the Barn Owls who don't technically hoot, have their own distinctive call.  However, I wouldn’t want as my mate someone who can’t remember me with the constant “who, who.”  All of this commotion leads to little hooters. 

 Staff member Leah Tyndall keeps an eye on our breeding pair by watch nest activity on "Barn Owl TV"

Now is the time of year when we start to see activity with our resident breeding pairs, too.  Recently, we went on an expedition to see how our barn owls have been doing.  We can observe them on ‘Barn Owl TV’ in the propagation office as the male brings rat treats to the female, since she is the one who remains on the nest. Barn owls tend to lay many eggs and our gal, Athena is no different. Barn Owls are indeterminate layers. Just like a chicken, they will continue to lay eggs. Several factors including weather, food availability and the females physical condition can affect how long this continues. 

Pulling eggs to be candled

We pulled 8 eggs to see how many are viable. Each egg was candled (put up to an overpriced flashlight--a bird’s equivalent of an ultrasound.) This process tells us how developed the young are, as raptors lay an egg about every other day until the clutch is full. Barn owls tend to have large clutch sizes of 8-12 eggs and up to 3 clutches a year. As soon as the first clutch of babies have grown, they begin laying the next clutch.

Placing the questionable eggs in an incubator for monitoring

Some eggs had a lot of veins and dark blobs in them. This is a good sign and indicates a developing baby Barn Owl. However, a couple of the eggs had some abnormalities. These eggs were removed and placed in an incubator to monitor more frequently. (It is possible that they are either early in the development process or infertile.)

If all goes well the result will be a new generation of baby owls such as these 14 day old chicks

The rest of the eggs we placed back in the nest box for mom to take care of.  The female was allowed to return to her nest box and we rechecked barn owl TV to make sure all was ok. The male reminds us of his parental responsibilities with a defensive fly-by every time we have to feed. (He doesn’t normally bother us.)

By seven weeks our little owlets will be well on their way to looking like their parents

The incubation period is 30-35 days so if all goes well, we will start to see some pipping activity (chicks breaking out of the eggs). Hopefully these chicks will join our list of Barn Owls returned to the wild.

Submitted by Christina Lavallee, World Bird Sanctuary Naturalist/Trainer