Tawny Owl tumble.

Last weekend I received a call about two young Tawny Owls that had been picked up below a nest box and the family who had found then weren't sure what they should do for the best. I quickly established that the bottom had fallen out of the nest box so I arranged to go round to see if it was possible to do a repair but I also took a spare owl box with me to try and cover all eventualities.

It was only a 5 minute drive to the house of the family that had found the owls and on examining the young Tawnies it was clear they were none the worse for their tumble but they were a bit too young to be out of the nest. It turned out the nest box was one the family had put up many years before in a tree at the end of their long garden and it had been used by owls for most of that time. Luckily the box was only about 4 metres off the ground and there was a deep layer of leaf litter below it which will have helped give the youngters a soft landing.

The ideal solution would have been a permanent or temporary repair to the box and to simply put the youngsters back in it so that is what I tried first. The bottom of the box hadn't completely fallen away and was hanging open but, unfortunately, the box had become far too fragile and flimsy to allow even a temporary repair. With a repair out of the question I decided to try plan B and put up the new box immediately below the old box and put the youngsters in that. The young owls were bill snapping and would have no problem attracting their parents attention by that means or with hunger calls so I had no concerns about the parents finding them. I was reasonably confident that the calls of the young and the parents desire to feed them would overcome any caution they may have about the sudden appearance of an additional box. The new box was quickly erected and the young placed inside and I arranged to go back a few days later to see how they were doing and to ring them if everything was going OK.

Plan B, the temporary box below the old box. 

So I went back a couple of days ago and was delighted to see both youngsters very much alive and well and looking very comfortable in their new home. Both were at an ideal size for ringing with the smaller chick having its primary feathers just emerging from their pins (sheaths) and the bigger one being a bit more advanced and noticeably heavier. Both were duly ringed and quickly returned to the new box. The parents had obviously taken to the new situation well and hadn't been put off by the new box in any way.

Little and large but both seem to be doing well in their new home.

That isn't the end of this story as there will be further follow up and the old box will be replaced by a new one in late summer or early autumn and the temporary box will be taken down and become my spare box again. Beyond that I will stay in touch with the family and help monitor their owl box in future years.

October 2017

A session at Billinge on the last day of the month produced a catch of 38 birds and was made up of 36 new birds, a retrap and a control. There were a few Goldcrests in every net round and they easily took top slot with 24 ringed. There weren't many thrushes moving but a Fieldfare found its way into a net and was the first to be ringed this autumn. Just a couple of Lesser Redpolls were caught but I was pleased to discover that one of them was a control (a bird ringed elsewhere) so it will be interesting to find out where that one has come from.

The control Lesser Redpoll was an adult female with ring number S341203.

Ringing totals (retraps/controls in brackets) for 31/10/17 were; Great Spotted Woodpecker 1; Goldcrest 24; Blue Tit 1; Great Tit 1 (1); Fieldfare 1; Redwing 7; Lesser Redpoll 1 (1).

A total of 746 birds were ringed at Billinge during October which is disappointing by that site's standards and is roughly half the total achieved in previous years. The main reason for this has been the lack of easterly winds which has resulted in much lower numbers of Redwings and Goldcrests passing through the site. However, Redwing and Goldcrest were still the most numerous species ringed by far and they topped the totals for the month with 292 and 259 respectively. Song Thrush came in third with 50 followed by Lesser Redpoll with 29 and Blackbird with 21. At the other end of the scale a Tawny Owl was only the second to be ringed at the site and a Firecrest was only the third ringing and sighting record of that species.

July ends in fine style.

I finished off the month the way I started it with an evening ringing session at Billinge. I set up the usual 2 nets in what were near perfect conditions - pleasantly warm, overcast and just a light breeze. The first check of the nets didn't produce a single bird and it soon became apparent that most of the warblers that were around previously had moved on and they hadn't been replaced by others moving in. There were a few warblers around but nothing like the numbers there had been. I wasn't sure if any Swallows would come in to roost either or if they had moved on too but I decided to stick it out anyway. I am certainly glad that I did as around 150 Swallow gathered along with a few House Martins and 35 of the former were caught.

Juvenile Swallow.
Swallows topped the ringing totals for the day and the month.

As I was extracting the last few Swallows a large bird hit the net just above my head and when I looked up a Tawny Owl was looking back at me. My reflexes kicked in and I quickly got hold of it and extracted it from the net before it had the chance to escape. Large birds can get out of small mesh nets quite easily so I was lucky that it went into the net so close to me. The evening ended with 50 new birds ringed and 5 retraps.

Juvenile Tawny Owl.

Juvenile Tawny Owl.
This is the first full grown Tawny Owl I have caught and ringed in a long time.

Ringing Totals for 31/07/14 with retraps in brackets.
Swallow 35
Linnet 7
Willow Warbler 4 (5)
Chiffchaff 1
Blackbird 1
Robin 1
Tawny Owl 1
Total 50 (5)

This July has been one of the best I have known and has a ringing total to match. I don't usually post monthly ringing totals but 826 birds ringed of 30 species is worth a mention. Top 5 in terms of number ringed were:
Swallow 426
Willow Warbler 93
Chiffchaff 54
Linnet 50
Goldfinch 46

The weather is forecast to be unsettled for the next few days so it could be early next week before I get August's ringing totals started.