I have and will be so busy with guiding (20 hour long trip to Hedmark and Oppland yesterday and tomorrow and Sunday in the Beitostølen area) that I haven’t had time for blogging so here is one I prepared earlier. I have lots to tell from yesterdays trip and expect to have much from the next two days though so watch this space.
I have been following a Tawny Owl nesting box in Maridalen this spring and have posted a few pictures of one of the adults and the young peering out of the hole. The three young left the box on 22-23 May. I suspect that one was taken by crows but I saw two out of the box on 23rdwhilst guiding. They leave the nest whilst still downy and cannot properly fly but they are forced to leave their hole because it is not large enough for them anymore and they need room to flap their wings and master flight.
They are accomplished climbers though and can clamber high up in trees where they are able to flap their wings and hop out on exploratory flights. Come the evening they all start screeching so that their parents know where their hungry mouths are.
On the 23rd we found them at about 10:30 with one youngster in the tree just by the box and another about 15 metres away. When I took my youngsters and missus at 20:30 then both birds had moved even further.
A visit on the 25th revealed a single youngster very close to where they had been on the evening on 23rd. During all these visits an adult was watching on very attentively and on the evening of the 23rd we located both parents with a cacophony of alarming Blackbirds helping us find the second adult.
a watchful adult Tawny Owl (kattugle)
the first youngster we found
the second youngster
who was close to the nest box
Simon Rix
Simon Rix is an English Birder who has lived in Oslo, Norway since 2001. Birding has been his passion since primary school and after an education as an economist and career within oil and gas and then drinks industry he turned his attention full time to birds as middle age approached. He is particularly interested in patch birding and migration and is an active guide, blogger and photographer. He is a member of the Norwegian Rarities Committee (NSKF).
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