TAWNY OWL

My birding buddy Stephen Carter was over again this Sunday with his ringing guru Denis Jackson and his wife Val to ring the Tawny Owlets. I'd showed him the photo's Luke took of the birds the week before and Steve said they looked big enough to ring, so we all went to the nest site where Steve climbed the tree to the box to get the youngsters down safely to start ringing.

Steve puts the ladder up to fetch the young Tawny's for ringing

After fetching the birds in a soft bag they're then put one at a time into a smaller bag to keep them calm while the ring is put on the Owlets leg.

The parent birds were flying just above us sometimes making a very agitated clicking sound. Tawny Owls can be very aggressive and are known to attack even humans around it's nest site so we had to be on our guard.

the female looking a bit agitated

Finally the last chick is ringed and I was able to get a quick snap before Steve took them back up the tree and safely into the nest box.

handsome

  I think the parent birds were happy to have their family back safe.

Great experience for myself seeing these beautiful birds up close and to see some real conservation work, even though it was a little hairy sometimes with the parent birds flying so close to us, but it shows what good parents they are.

Below is a short clip of Steve ringing the birds enjoy!!

Big thanks to Steve, Denis and Val hope you enjoyed the tea and the chat afterwards CHEERS.