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Fattest
Barn Owl in West Sussex!
____________________________________________________
Posted: 24th August
2007
Photo: G. Bradley |
A pair of wild barn owls nesting at RSPB Pulborough Brooks nature reserve has raised the bounciest babies that experts have seen in the county.
The chick weighed in at 446g, and the other two chicks in the nest were no lightweights either at 423g and 364g. The chicks were weighed by county expert, Barry Watson, who has a special licence to check how well barn owls are doing throughout the county, he was also able to age the chicks and confirm that they were all females.
Dr Watson, said, "This is the heaviest barn owl I have weighed, and I have been monitoring barn owl nest sites and chicks across west Sussex for many years.
"At 8-weeks-old, this chick should be leaving the nest soon and it will actually need to loose weight in order to fly, as the average fledging weight for a barn owl is between 380 and 390g."
The chicks would have been fed on a diet of small mammals, particularly voles, mice and shrews, caught by the parent owls, from the reserve's extensive grassland habitat. The owls were raised in a purpose-built nest box, put up on the reserve several years ago.
RSPB Visitor Officer, Samantha Stokes, adds, "For baby owls and other birds, 'fat' equals 'fit'. Young birds which have plenty of fat reserves have a much better chance of surviving their first winter, as it gives them something 'in the tank' for lean times and while they are learning all the tricks of survival.
"That barn owls should have raised such heavy chicks indicates that they are finding an abundance of voles and other small creatures on the reserve. In fact, this is the first year we have had two successful barn owl nests on the
reserve."
RSPB Pulborough Brooks Nature Reserve is open daily, with gift shop, information area, toilets and tearoom. For further information on the reserve, contact the visitor centre on 01798
875851. The reserve is located off the A283 between Pulborough and
Storrington.
Related Links:
UK Safari Barn Owl Pages
UK Safari Owl Pages
UK Safari Bird Section
Whittet Book of Owls
UK Safari News
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