Wandering Spirit is what I named the baby owl that was the only baby in the second clutch of our Fink Family Farm Barn Owls in 2025. But I think I may also be a wandering spirit or at least my blog is. I started a new blog, More Ramblings from Fink Family Farm, back in April because I could not get signed into my original blog (this one, Fink Family Farm Ramblings) to write a new post. Today I cannot get signed into my More Ramblings blog but did manage to get into my original one. Is that clear as mud? We'll see where I get next time I try.
To catch everyone up to date on the Barn Owl story this summer at Fink Family Farm, I'll repost what I have sent to my email list of folks who have expressed interest in our Barn Owl news. And then, hopefully, add from there... As background, the first clutch this year fledged 5 owlets in early June. The owls don't always have two clutches, but this year, they did. However, only one egg in the second clutch, which has never happened before.
July 10...First egg was seen in the nest box, with Mama Owl, tonight, July 10. In the past first fledging happened about 90-100 days after first egg appeared. That means fledging will probably happen in early October...
I finally again on Sept 7, after the egg had disappeared, saw mama owl sitting sort of upright with a very fuzzy -- and big -- baby owl under her, looking out at me with that moon-shaped face. So apparently she laid only one egg and hatched it out and has been setting over it, hidden from my occasional visits, ever since. Time wise it should be feathered and ready to fledge in October, as I first predicted. However I don't think there's any point in trying to have a fledging party for one lonely chick. I think that might be a bit traumatic for all concerned.
This Big Baby Owl managed to have a traumatic fledging even without a party. Here's the rest of the story as told to the list.
October 5...
Tonight I climbed the ladder and checked the one baby barn owl that was
produced in this second litter of the year. The big baby is still
covered in down but the face looks like a heart-shaped Barn Owl face
now. I was beginning to think Mama Owl had mated with a much bigger owl
to produce this giant chick, but I think the big little guy is just the
result of being the only one getting all the food.
Parent owls catch whatever they can and feed it to however many children
they have. When only one, apparently that one eats and eats and eats and
grows and grows and grows. I may go up with a camera and see if I can
get a photo without extra lighting. We have never had a Barn Owl chick
this big. It has to duck its head to stand inside the nest box. Except
for the head and face, it is still just a mass of white down.
October 9...
Yesterday morning (10/8), when I went into the loft to throw down
hay, I walked toward the south end of the barn to get a bale for the
bucks. They get the grass hay that has less lotus in it than the bales
at the north end that I feed to the milkers and kids. I stopped as a
tremendous ruckus went up from the rafters high over my head at the very
south end of the barn near the little opening at the end of the tree
limb that extends from the north end of the loft near the nest box to
the south end near the opening. The tree limb is for the owls to roost
on. We do not stack hay under it as that's where the owls hang out when
they first leave the nest box... and make lots of big white SPLATS (as I
call them) under the limb.
I looked up toward the sound and could barely make out what looked
sort of like an owl face scrunched up under the roof where there did not
look like there was room for an owl... but it was very dark up there. So
I went down the loft ladder and turned on the light... went back up and
that had not helped as the lights don't shine up at the ceiling but
down. I dashed back to the house for a flashlight (and camera, of
course). When I came back up into the loft, I could not see an owl face
or anything recognizable. But there was something up there that I could
not tell what was with light or camera. Rather than give the Thing a
heart attack, I fed hay to the goats and climbed back down out of the loft.
That evening I went up to feed hay with my flashlight in tow. There
was nothing at the south end of the loft where something had been that
morning. When I finished feeding hay, I took my flashlight and climbed
the stairs to the nest box and peeked in, shining my light off to the
side, not into the box, so as not to blind whatever might be in the box.
That is my standard procedure on the rare times I check the box.
Standing at the back of the box, was the Big Baby Barn Owl, as
usual. But now I noticed that peeking out here and there from all that
fluffy down were feathers, mostly hidden in the down but there. I
suspect Big Baby is beginning to explore and try to use his wings, such
as they are. Pretty impressive that he made it all the way from one end
of the barn to the other and found a hidey hole, of sorts, under the
roof. And then, after I left, made his way back to the nest box. Well,
it could well be a "she", not a "he" as the females are usually bigger
than the males.
I'll start checking for feathers and owl pellets under the limb to
see if Big Baby is hanging out there when I'm not around. I'll keep
y'all posted.
October 10...
Yesterday morning (Oct. 9) when
I went out to do morning chores, the big baby owl was in a tree in front
of the barn. I'll attach photos I took yesterday. I don't know if
parents came to feed it last night or if it fed itself but this morning
it is in a slightly different place in the same thicket of trees... eyes
tightly closed, apparently asleep. I'm wondering if the parents of this owl got tired of feeding the big
baby and so it left to find its own food. The night before I had seen it
in the nest box, where it had returned after I'd seen it that morning at
the far end of the barn. So it was able to get from one end of the barn
to the other. I am suspecting it was hungry and going out looking for
food. Maybe a parent was enticing it out with a rodent?
I don't really have a clue why it left the safe barn when it obviously
has not mastered hiding in broad daylight. Can only hope it survives.
One other time we had a baby owl, fully feathered, who took off during the day and tried to feed itself. It stayed out for several days until crows finally convinced it that it should hide. After that, I assume it turned into a night owl. I wrote a children's story with photos about that. Dawn Villaescusa came over and took some of the photos.
On Oct. 10, this year's wandering owl was still in the trees but in a slightly different location. Here are my responses to folks who wrote:
(Oct. 11) It has moved its perch slightly but still in basically the same area. Once when I was in the area, I could see its eyes open. I can see a feathered wing between all that down on its front and back, so maybe it can fly, sort of. Do not know if parents are feeding it... I have not heard their calls nor have I heard the baby begging, but I'm not going out after dark so as not to interfere with any feeding or hunting. (2nd photo)
A retired wildlife professor friend told me that 80% of wildlife born do not reach adulthood. That makes sense when you think of it... If all offspring survived, the population would increase dramatically.
It rained last night and I worried. This morning, 10/12, there was no owl to be found in the trees outside the barn. I wondered if it had moved to an evergreen, a much safer roost, or if it had managed to get back into the barn, or... if it was lying dead below the trees somewhere. I milked and fed goats, then went up the ladder to the barn loft to throw down hay. Before I reached the top all heck broke loose above me... baby owl was definitely back, crashing around from somewhere high at the south end of the loft to the north end where the nest box is. It looked fully feathered now with not much down visible. I guess all it's wild activity had de-fluffed it and allowed the flight feathers to be seen.
I went ahead and fed hay to the bucks, as usual, while the owl flopped around on top of the nest box. When I looked next, it was gone. I think it is inside the box but it could have flown out the opening right by the nest box. I don't think it did as it could have done that when it first flew to the north end of the barn instead of stuffing itself below the ceiling on top of the box. Later I looked outside and saw no owl in any nearby or distant tree. Tonight I will try to feed hay before dark and look inside the nest box... unless the owl is again crashing around the loft.
At any rate, I feel much better about this owl's chance for survival. It must be eating. And it certainly can fly and knows how to get back into the dry barn loft. I have dubbed it Wandering Spirit.
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