With more birds almost ready for release from the Hospital, we invited Dr Hugh Hanmer back to ring the remaining birds with Jess and Susan.
Little Bill, the smallest of the Tawny Owls has grown since they first arrived and is catching up with Sarah and Percy. They received a ring and were weighed before being returned to the creche. Sarah is already perching, and once the other two are able to get up to the perches in their small aviary they will be ready to be transferred to a hack pen for release.
Bill showing off his new BTO ring.
Netty the Tawny Owl has made a remarkable recovery after their entanglement. They were given pain relief for a couple of days but was soon showing signs that they were ready for release again. They were ringed on the day of their release, and their feathers showed us that they are at least 2 years old, but quite possibly a much older bird. Certainly, from their brief time in our care, they seem very experienced and we hope they will enjoy many more years of hunting.
Netty, ringed and ready for release!
The Tawny Owl that was handed into a local vet practice has also recovered well and has shown itself to be very resilient. After spending the weekend in a our intensive care room, they were moved to one of our aviaries so we could assess their flight. Thankfully, there were no injuries besides the head trauma, which has now recovered. Upon ringing, this was also discovered to be an adult bird of at least 2 years of age, but again, possibly much older.
Ringing is done under licence using specialist equipment. It causes no harm to the birds, as we know the oldest Tawny Owl was ringed as a chick in the nest, and found over 23 years later just 3km away from it’s natal nest!
The Tawny Owl found in a ditch is still under observation but has been improving every day. This bird is on the small side, so we suspect they’re a male, and looking at the feathers, they are a second year bird (hatched in 2020.)
Over 60,000 Tawny Owls have been ringed since the BTO Ringing Scheme started!
Whilst we do receive lots of Tawny Owls every year to our Raptor Hospital, it’s unusual to have so many adults, apparently not in breeding condition at this time of year. There could be several reasons for this, so we will pass on our observations to other Owl groups and see if it’s a pattern seeing elsewhere.
The Kestrel found with the injured neck was also ringed, as it is now much better and will hopefully be released soon. This male was also at least 2 years old, so we hope that by ringing him, he may be found breeding in the future.
Kestrels are usually quite feisty, and this tenacious attitude helps them survive in the wild.
After the Hospital patients were ringed, Susan (who is permitted to ring some species under licence) ran an impromptu ringing demonstration for some of our staff and volunteers of a nest of 7 Blue Tits. In contrast to Birds of Prey, these birds fledge and leave the nest after just 12-15 days, so the window for ringing them is quite small. We have several nest boxes across our site, but only one has been occupied this year.
One of the seven baby Blue Tits that were nesting in one of our boxes.
Just before Hugh left, Jade found a young Starling near our Vulture aviary. Starlings make use of the roof spaces in the aviaries and this little one had clearly fallen from the nest and been unable to get back up. It was promptly ringed and placed near our hedging, with mum and dad observing from the rooftop. The Starling managed to hop into the lower branches and disappear into the vegetation, so we’re confident it will be fine.
Young Starlings will be descending on gardens across the country, so it was good to ring one of the many that live here at Suffolk Owl Sanctuary.