Owls make friends

We’ve had these two tawny owls in for several months.  Ozzie (the larger) is now fit and well and can fly.   He is a timid bird though and very clingy.  Open doors hold no attraction for him and he doesn’t want to leave!   Ozzie ‘talks’ to us and clicks to tell us when he sees something new or when he wants something – maybe just for attention at times.  He is a lovely intelligent bird but apprehensive about new people, places and experiencesx.  A companion might help him to gain confidence?

Woody is another tawny owl who came to us with an injured wing, he was weak and poorly to begin with.   He has recovered his strength now but it has been a long haul, although he can flutter, he can’t fly properly.   It would be great if we could keep the two owls together but would they get on?   Woody has been kept in a smaller pen so that he could rest his wing.  They would have to get used to each other before we could trust them to be loose.

At first we put Woody in a large pen in Ozzie’s aviary.  This led to a frenzy of clicks – who is that???   Ozzie gradually settled down and went nearer to investigate, Woody didn’t bother about him at all.  We kept them like this, side by side, for nearly a week, feeding them at the same time.   The big day came and we decided to open Woody’s pen and let the two owls meet.   Woody looked out, watched Ozzie for a moment or two and then fluttered to a branch next to him.  Ozzie looked startled but then pleased.  He clicked to tell us all about it.   So far they are fine, perching next to each other, no jealousy over feeding times though we’re giving them extra rations just to make sure.  Ozzie and Woody are already best friends.