Tawny Owls

The Centre recently acquired two young Tawny Owl chicks. These are two of four that were bred at Wildwood Trust in Kent. After spotting them on my recent trip to collect our weasel, I could not leave with out them.

They are only 2 days old at the time of the photo, and you can see how small they are in the photo below.

As you are aware, I am currently looking to expand our bird section and add more to the flying team. We currently have an excellent mini-display in the afternoons with Hedwig and Ethel, and most of you are aware that we should be collecting a Long-eared Owl chick soon to train to fly and will be rearing two of our Barn Owl chicks, but now we can rear and train 2 tawnys to join the team as well. Getting them this young will make them very steady so maybe we can give Milo a break from time to time on welcoming duty too :)

And like buses, a third owl was collected by the Centre on the same day...

In the afternoon I went out to collect a rescued owl which was found in a barn. They assumed it was a barn owl, not surprisingly, but in fact is also a tawny owl. This is what our little chicks will look like in a couple of weeks time.

At the moment the 2 little ones are being reared by keeper Katie with the intention of joining our flying team. The slightly older one is at home with keeper Izzy. Many people think owl chicks look ugly, and with many species I totally agree, but I actually kind of think tawnys are quite cute this young... for those still unsure, this is what they look like fully grown...

Beautiful!

This is Toni our tawny. He is a star on the glove, but never trained to fly. We will retire him to the aviary with the other owls so our youngsters can have his quarters.

Look out for these owls in the flying displays over the Summer.