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Barn Owl Box: Difference between revisions
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Image:Barn Owl Box62.jpg|The completed owlbox ready for treating | Image:Barn Owl Box62.jpg|The completed owlbox ready for treating | ||
Image:Barn Owl Box67.jpg|Being checked by our buildings inspector 😸 | Image:Barn Owl Box67.jpg|Being checked by our buildings inspector 😸 | ||
Image:Very Simple Easy To Build Owl Box.jpg|A much simpler owl box that is very easy to build<br>'''You will need to add an exercise / landing platform for the young | Image:Very Simple Easy To Build Owl Box.jpg|A much simpler owl box that is very easy to build<br>'''You will need to add an exercise / landing platform for the young | ||
</gallery> | </gallery> | ||
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=====Evidence that you have Barn Owls===== | =====Evidence that you have Barn Owls===== | ||
When we did our [https://www.churchfarmstowbardolph.co.uk/activity/nature-walks/ evening nature walk with Nigel, a local gamekeeper from Church Farms, Stow Bardolph] he showed us underneath where barn owls had been perching. | When we did our [https://www.churchfarmstowbardolph.co.uk/activity/nature-walks/ evening nature walk with Nigel, a local gamekeeper from Church Farms, Stow Bardolph] he showed us underneath where barn owls had been perching. | ||
Their scat or faeces is very white, almost chalky due to the high protean carnivorous diet. Look around the ground under trees near you owl box for evidence of this - it's pretty obvious once you spot it. | Their scat or faeces is very white, almost chalky due to the high protean carnivorous diet. Look around the ground under trees near you owl box for evidence of this - it's pretty obvious once you spot it. | ||
<gallery widths=300px heights=300px perrow=5> | |||
Image:White scat from barn owls.jpg|A barn owl has been sitting above here! | |||
Image:Barn Owl Box68.jpg| The two fledglings a few months after hatching | |||
</gallery> | |||
===Progress of the Young Owl Fledglings=== | ===Progress of the Young Owl Fledglings=== | ||
Our [[#Watching the Barn Owls|video camera system]] enables us to view the owls easily, even at night. We were able to see immediately the young owlets started to exercise on the landing platform, and eventually when they fledged. Sadly, only one of the pair eventually survived; the survivor we called Noddy because of its peculiar habit of head-bobbing. It's a known behaviour pattern of many owls, owls cannot move their eyes as we can as an owl's eyes are fixed in position. The head movement makes up for this limitation. However, we had never seen this behaviour from the parents and it's very obvious, even on the darkest night at a good distance as the infra-red camera shows their eyes as lights, bobbing and nodding. It's enabled us to distinguish Noddy from the parents (unless the parents have started nodding too!) | Our [[#Watching the Barn Owls|video camera system]] enables us to view the owls easily, even at night. We were able to see immediately the young owlets started to exercise on the landing platform, and eventually when they fledged. Sadly, only one of the pair eventually survived; the survivor we called Noddy because of its peculiar habit of head-bobbing. It's a known behaviour pattern of many owls, owls cannot move their eyes as we can as an owl's eyes are fixed in position. The head movement makes up for this limitation. However, we had never seen this behaviour from the parents and it's very obvious, even on the darkest night at a good distance as the infra-red camera shows their eyes as lights, bobbing and nodding. It's enabled us to distinguish Noddy from the parents (unless the parents have started nodding too!) | ||