For us, January and February are winter; dreary, dark and this year in particular, cold and wet.Yet for the owls, their thoughts are already turning to spring. Soon after Christmas the owls can be found at the nest sites, reestablishing their bonds and thinking about the season ahead of them. We begin to see more activity and there is definitely more territorial screeching going on as the owls on site lay claim to the yard and make sure any youngsters or visiting owls know exactly who the farm belongs to.
We are also looking ahead. At some point the farm will be sold and whilst it is highly likely that I will still be able to feed the owls each night, I want to have options for feeding. For this reason, since Christmas, I have been putting chicks on the shed rood close to the gate. Initially I just left two but once these were discovered and taken I increased the volume here and decreased food on the shed in the farm itself. I did this very gradually so no owls went hungry but so that I can feed here and minimise disturbance to the new owners. I was so excited recently to be greeted one evening by two owls waiting on this very shed and even more delighted when I realised that one was our oldest female. Since then I have noticed that whilst I am in the farm putting food on the other feeding stations that some of the owls are flying in and taking food from the shed by the gate before I've exited the yard. I'm keen to see how this all works out.
Our other task was to clean the nest boxes out, mend and reposition them slightly. The owls make this especially tricky for us. They lay their first egg in early March and once spring broods fledge in May they then go on to produce second broods which don't fledge until October. These young owls often stay and roost in the boxes throughout the winter so our window for cleaning boxes is very limited.With the farm leaving our hands sooner rather than later we needed to leave the boxes in the best state possible. This meant cleaning them out and mending both east nest box and west nest box. These are the most popular nest sites and both being exposed to the elements, we decided once they were mended they needed securing further back into the dutch barn so they took less weathering and would last much longer.
I saw the manitou out in the yard in mid February and realised they were taking the boxes down. As I watched I saw an owl leave the box and fly panicked across the yard. Later I found out that both these boxes had two owls in them. Whether they were youngsters roosting or whether they were our established pairs I couldn't say but despite there being plenty of other roost sites I was keen for the boxes to go back up as soon as possible.
What we found in the boxes was surprising. Both boxes were brimming with pellet debris but east nest box also had a fair quantity of sticks. I'd guess that the jackdaws had begun to build in this one and was most probably the reason that the barn owls never used it last summer. What was also surprising was the pellets themselves. I feed between fifteen and twenty day old chicks a night, up to one hundred and forty a week. Pellets that the owls regurgitate after eating chicks are a light brown and chalky in composition. Looking at the pellet debris I would say that only about twenty per cent were from day old chicks. Its reassuring to see that our owls continue to hunt for themselves but it also told me that in this case, there are more owls flying in and taking the day old chicks if the owls on site are catching this quantity of voles.
It took six nerve wracking days for the boxes to go back up. I asked every morning if today was the day when the owls would get these favoured boxes back and eventually they went back up. Two very sturdy boxes were positioned out of the weather yet still close enough to the original site for the owls to find them easily. Sure enough, that very evening an owl left the platform of east nest box as I walked down with food. I do hope they are happy with their refurbished homes. Perhaps now they have such super homes they will vacate the combine!!
Meanwhile the kestrels have also been thinking of spring. Before I had even got over the sad loss of Daddy Kestrel, the new male was on site and flying alongside our original female. I even wonder if his arrival had something to do with the attack on Daddy Kestrel. Before we lost him we had a kestrel roosting on our aerial. There were droppings and pellets all over the path. Once we lost him, these pellets disappeared. Could it be possible that this younger bird saw the chance to take over a desirable territory and fought for it? It would have been a fight that Daddy Kestrel with his advanced years would have been bound to lose. We'll never know exactly what happened but I am very happy to have a kestrel pair continuing at the farm. The female is now the bravest and waits for me each morning. Her new mate is often with her and flies alongside her. I have also witnessed brief mating which I suppose is part of them establishing their bond. Today they sat together in the ash tree watching me as I walked closely past. I am extremely proud to have had Daddy Kestrel with us for sixteen and a half years but am also excited for this next chapter in the kestrel's story.
So endings and new beginnings and the circle of life continues. Whether we want things to stay as they are or whether we are keen for change, life goes on relentlessly and all we can do is look forward and enjoy the journey. Here's to the upcoming spring and the surprises my avian friends have for me.
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