We were able to release our group of four Tawny Owls recently after their stay at our Raptor Hospital.
The group of four consisted of two young Owlets, who were brought in separately. One was found on the ground in a dangerous location, and the other was being monitored by a nest cam but appeared to be abandoned when it’s mother stopped bringing it food. Being of a similar age, we put them in together and they soon settled down and could be seen preening eachother.
The other two Tawny Owls were young adults (chicks from 2020). One was a long term rehab resident after sustaining a head injury following a collision with a car. This cause a bleed in the eye, which we had to monitor once it looked better to assess whether it had regained full sight. Thankfully, it made a full recovery and thinking it was a “she” (based on her size) we put her in with the Owlets. She settled in as well and was seen not only preening the youngsters but also bringing food to them.
The last Tawny Owl came to us from another rescue facility and needed some time to grow back some essential feathers. This owl was added to the group and the four owls seemed to get along well together.
Young owls and long term patients are suitable candidates for a hack release, where we install a pen in a remote location to give them time to get used to being out in the wild again, but while still provisioning them with food. After a few days or weeks (depending on our assessments), we open the hatch to give the birds freedom to come and go as they please. We continue to monitor the pen after this, and will carry on putting food out for as long as it takes for them to stop visiting. Sometimes, they fly out as soon as the hatch is open and they never come back, other times they will hang around for a wee or two while they adjust to life in the wild again.
Before being released, the group were ringed by a licenced BTO ringer, which will hopefully mean that if they are found again in the future, we will know what happened to them once they leave the pen.
One of the Tawny Owls being ringed by a BTO licenced ringer.
Our local wildlife friendly Farmer Sam has had a hack pen on his land since last year, and was all too happy to add the group of Tawny Owls to his farm. The pen was relocated to a more wooded location and the owls were delivered. Falconer Jess and Education Officer Susan talked to the family about why the Owls had come into the hospital, and about what they need to survive in the wild. The children were very excited to see the owls up close and told us there are lots of voles in the field, which means this should be a perfect location to release them from.
Farmer Sam with his children, releasing one of the Tawny owls into the hack pen.
The owls spent a couple of weeks in the hack pen before we opened it up. Jess then visited every couple of days to drop off some food for the Tawnies, while they explored the surrounding area. Using camera traps, we were able to monitor their comings and goings, including some other cheeky local wildlife raiding the free food!
We are pleased to say that after three weeks of freedom, the owls have stopped visiting the hack pen, suggesting that they have now established their own territories and discovered the plentiful supply of wild natural prey to be found in the fields and woodlands.