Baby owl enjoyed his breakfast

It was up at first light to check on our baby owl.  He looked so frail last night that anything could have happened but thankfully he has has a good night’s sleep and is a different bird this morning.  He’s alert and feisty, which means he’s feeling better.  Feeding him today wasn’t a bare fingers job – he was hungry and couldn’t wait to get his pieces of chick so I had to put the gloves on or risk injury.  Even at this small age the beak is sharp and his talons are strong.  It’s so good to have him eating, he stands upright to feed but then flops down afterwards as in the picture, he’s resting now and digesting his breakfast.

He’s a tawny owl, which is one of the U.K.’s most numerous owl species.  These are the birds who go to-whit-to-who.   It’s not just one bird who makes this sound though, it’s a male and female answering each other.  One goes ‘to-whit’ the other answers ‘to-whoo’.

We’ve called him Ozzie and although he’s been given a name, we are handling him as little as possible and will keep him as ‘wild’ as we can.   Our aim is to release him to the wild when he is ready.   Him?  Her?  We don’t know at this stage.   Baby owls don’t fly until five weeks old and usually leave home in the autumn.

Isn’t he beautiful….