If you’ve ever had a
bird’s nest in your backyard, you know the joy of watching a pair of birds
raising their young. It seems like
the babies go from hatchlings to fledging (leaving) the nest in the blink of an
eye.
For over a month, I have
been privileged to witness firsthand the growth of a young European Barn
Owl. As World Bird Sanctuary staff members, we are
responsible for the training of our young education birds, but some of us also
get the responsibility of raising them.
In mid April of this year,
a couple of European Barn Owls were hatched in our propagation department. Two of these chicks will be education
birds with the World Bird Sanctuary; so, when the chicks were about one month
old, they were removed from the Propagation Department and given to the care of
Education Department staff members.
I was fortunate enough to be one of the staff members chosen for the
task.
Avery with his baby down (photo: JoHanna Burton)
When I received the baby,
he was exactly one month old, and no more than a downy cloud of fluff. I took home a crate, and all the
necessary equipment to feed him as often as he was hungry. My job was to socialize the baby and
get him used to various people, places, and experiences. I carried him to and from work every
day, where we set up a pen for the babies in a corner of the kitchen.
Over the following weeks,
the little owls changed rapidly.
Already being about full-grown in weight at a month old, the babies
began growing in their adult feathers and losing their down. As my little owl’s feathers grew, so
did his curiosity. He began to
explore more of his surroundings (supervised by me). Eventually he figured out how to pounce, which provided
hours of entertainment. Shortly
after, he figured out how to use his wings to give himself a little more height
on his pounces, which led to short flights.
Baby birds grow very quickly. Avery with his "big boy" equipment (photo: JoHanna Burton)
Once the flights started,
it was time to put the two young owls on falconry equipment,
so they could be handled by trainers like the rest of our education raptors. The owls are now on anklets, jesses,
and leashes, just like the other education birds. It took a day or two, of course, for the little owl to come
to terms with the loss of his freedom of exploration. Now, bringing the owl home in the evenings required also
bringing home a perch and mats to keep him tethered for his own safety.
Learning the routine of
stepping onto and off of gloves, crating properly, and going out on shows as a
walk-on bird are some of the last steps in the little owl’s (named Avery)
training. He is a crowd favorite
with his curious head bobbing and wing stretching.
Perhaps the next time you
visit the World Bird Sanctuary, you will see little Avery and his brother
Oakley in the Nature Center weathering area.
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Submitted by JoHanna
Burton, World Bird Sanctuary Naturalist
