I think Oswald is telling us he's ready for his own room soon...
At just 7 weeks old, he's quickly developing the muscles required for sustained flight, and within a few more weeks, he'll be completely able to fly as an adult owl would! Raptors have an accelerated growth rate as young to help them gain independence faster - the quicker they grow, the sooner they can leave the nest, allowing them to depend on themselves for their food as opposed to hoping their parents can find enough food for themselves as well as all the young in the nest. The catch 22 is that to grow that fast, they need to eat a significant amount of food, meaning the parents are VERY busy for the first few months!
Uhmmmm?? Can someone tell me when little baby Oswald got switched out for this OWL??? Learning how to fly already????
Something pretty cool for your Monday afternoon! The other day, we were candling our Kestrel eggs and saw some movement in one! This little Kestrel is growing fast, and if all goes well, they should be hatching soon
We still have some space left in our photography session this coming Saturday afternoon, and we'll have an open to the public show at 10:30am on the Saturday, too - learn more at www.theeyrie.ca/visit
At four weeks old, Blathers now has enough wing and tail feather growth to really start hopping around. He spends a good amount of his time awake exploring and pumping his wings to build up his pectoral muscles - it won't be long before he really starts getting some distance!
#babyowl #growingfast #owlet #raptor #owl
What a great weekend to be out enjoying the spring weather - Deacon's ready to leave the winter behind!
Bruno
People often ask us how long it takes to train the birds we work with. As with almost anything, the answer is: it depends!
It can depend on many things such as the species, the age of the bird, the time of year, and the individual bird's personality!
Harris' Hawks, like Bruno here, are more easy-going raptors and take to the basics of training fairly quickly. This video was taken about 2 weeks after we picked up Bruno and his brother, and about 1 week after training started. He's got the basics down, now he just has to work on his landings a little bit!
Side note: he is NOT thrilled with the return of snow storms
Doing some training with Lilith, our Black Vulture!
New world vultures are built slightly different to many other species of Raptors, in that they are very maneuverable on both the wing and foot! Vultures, being primarily scavengers, spend a large amount of time on the ground as that's where they will find food. Black Vultures, being one of the smaller Vultures are at a bit of a disadvantage to other predators, and are incredibly quick in comparison to other vultures.
Here's a quick example of just how quick they can be!
#theeyrie #birdsofprey #raptors #vultures #blackvulture #northkawartha
Keep your ears peeled!
It's Great-Horned Owl breeding season right now, which means you might hear some of their signature hooting! They prefer to nest in remote wooded areas, but Great-Horned Owls are adaptive and will nest in many other environments
Happy owl prowls!
