Young tawny Owl

[caeser]

This little beauty was one of two ,on one of the old farm outbuildings.

 

 

[jason kaye]

Sorry mate to have to correct you ,but thats a Little Owl

Jase.

[fluke2]

I found a young tawny with his leg torn off and the missus kept him alive

he hung about in the garden shed for two year door wide open before eventually

dissapearing, I couldnt get near him but the wife used to sit feeding him on

her lap, vicious little sod as well.

[Chard]

Sorry mate to have to correct you ,but thats a Little Owl

Jase.

 

Yep, Little Owl it is

[caeser]

Actually I'm glad you've said that, because when I first spotted it ,there was two of them. Both very nervous, and both very small. I said to my mate that was with me, they're 'little owls'. He replied 'no they're not. they're young tawny's.'

Not being 100% sure, I just took his word for it.

[fluke2]

If you goog the barn owl trust website they give an accurate description

of both and also how similar the young are, the one we had looked very much

the same as the photo until a few weeks later when he rocketed in size

and started to colour up, the first vet that stitched him up thought he was a

little owl until a guy from the local bird of prey centre confirmed him as a tawny.

I recently held a fledged little owl youngster and he was about five inches on

the glove.

[liamlumsden]

defo little owl mint little things got to love them

[Bleeh]

Time for Dr. Bleehs Biology lesson , so listen up you 'orrible little toerags. .

 

Young birds are split into two groups, you have Precocial, and Altricial.

 

Precocial, are young that are hatch relatively mobile, (most ground nesting birds), a good example of this is Pheasants, chickens, partridge, and they'll often leave the brood and mother will often leave the nest after being born (making them nigifudious or something, I forget).

 

Altricial, on the other hand, are born as the helpless little pink things you'll see in a nest (often off the ground) who has luxury of a nice safe nest above ground. With this added safety, it gives them plenty of time to be fed and grow before they'll leave the nest (again, in most but not all species) and this is why you never see tiny little fledgling pigeons flying about (as a fledgling pigeon that's flying will be about 95% of the size of a fully grown adult). Another good example of this is baby rooks, when you first start seeing them around branchers day, they are about as big as the adults!

 

So, as a rule of thumb, if it's a speicies that nests in trees, you won't see a 'baby' outside the nest untill it's pretty much fully grown (Or it falls out)

Edited July 8, 2010 by Bleeh