Barn Owl fledglings, 'head-bobbing', Dingle Peninsula, 28th July 2015 (M.O'Clery, filmed under licence from NPWS).
A short clip from a camera in Co. Kerry a few nights ago. Most nest sites now have chicks that are fledged, or nearly so. The four chicks at this site hatched in a nest box in an old farmhouse, but by now are able to fly short distances. Rather than waiting at the box for their next feed, they now await the adults return from the windowsill, eager to be the first to grab the next mouse or vole.
This clip is a good demonstration of the exaggerated ‘head-bobbing’ of young birds. Even though they look identical to adults at this stage, only juvenile birds do this, believed to be in order for them to better gauge distances to perches and other objects. The effect can be quite comical, but is all part of them learning to fly and hunt.
Within days these chicks will be venturing outside the building and starting to hunt for themselves, but the parents will continue to feed them at the house until the chicks move away. Some leave as soon as they are able, others linger around the nest site for a few more weeks.
One of the chicks on the windowsill of the old house during the afternoon (M.O’Clery, under licence from NPWS).
