All the time and effort spent monitoring and then ringing Barn Owl chicks each summer pays huge dividends once the birds are recovered. Unfortunately, this usually means they have been found dead, but occasionally birds are re-trapped alive. It can give us a huge amount of information on the lives of these secretive birds.Two recoveries have come to light in just the last few days.
Barn Owl road casualty, from Ardfert, yesterday (M.O'Clery).
The bird bore a ring with the serial no. GC97890 (M. O'Clery).
This bird was hatched at a nest site near Tralee, Co. Kerry and was one of a brood of four chicks. It was a male and was ringed on 9th July 2010. At 3 1/2 years old, this bird was quite a veteran, but unfortunately met its end when it collided with a vehicle yesterday evening, on the outskirts of Ardfert, Co. Kerry. It had moved only 5km from its birthplace.
A second recent recovery was of another Kerry Barn Owl, ringed at a tree nest near Castleisland in summer 2011. It was found dead at Tournafulla in Limerick last September. It had travelled 27km from its birthplace.
