Sunday, June 29, 2008

sunday with the roofvogels

Bird Friends of mine invited us over today to watch the ringing of barn owls that nested in their barn (ringing = banding in European lingo) by a Flemish Barn Owl protection group. Fortunately, there happened to also be a kestrel nest just 2 m from the barn owl nest (how lucky is that!!!!!), so we got to witness 3 kestrel young getting ringed as well. Stijn doesn't think they're cute, but I immediately fell in love with them!

There were 5 barn owl chicks, and Phoebe was thrilled to be able to hold one of them for a few moments. They were very docile and easy going, and she loved every minute of it.

Alex enjoyed a moment with a barn owl chick as well, which she loved. The kids have been watching "Dr. Doolittle" and all wish they could talk to animals, especially after this special session!

Here you see a younger chick and its older sibling which was born some days earlier - what a dramatic difference in size!

The female was soooooooooooooooo pretty to see, and luckily she remained in the nest box so we could get a close look at her. Now that's icing on the cake!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

that must have been amazing to hold that little furball in your hands. And the size difference...wow. What's the word to describe that pattern of egg laying?

Miss you guys whole LOTS!

Proud of your yoga developments. It has all happened so fast since Atlanta.

Laura

Anonymous said...

asynchronous hatching!

It took a few moments of wiping cobwebs out of my brain to remember the term, but there it is. Most species of altricial birds exhibit this mode of hatching. The thought is that during periods of food scarcity, the youngest would perish, giving the oldest a better chance of survival.

Back to domestic life -- but at least the cobwebs are gone for a nanosecond ...

miss you too!
love,
court

Anonymous said...

asynchronous hatching!

It took a few moments of wiping cobwebs out of my brain to remember the term, but there it is. Most species of altricial birds exhibit this mode of hatching. The thought is that during periods of food scarcity, the youngest would perish, giving the oldest a better chance of survival.

Back to domestic life -- but at least the cobwebs are gone for a nanosecond ...

miss you too!
love,
court

Anonymous said...

well, maybe i didn't get rid of ALL the cobwebs ..... never seem to get these com-pewter details just right!