Two more Barn Owl chicks have been ringed at a site in Duhallow which we saw in a slightly earlier post below ('Can NAMA help Barn Owls?').
There were three chicks in total, but it seemed that two had already fledged and moved out several days ago, though as it transpired, the two were roosting at the back of the house. When John Lusby visited the nest site on Tuesday, he was able to capture, weigh, measure and ring two of them, before returning them to the nest site.
Barn Owl chicks, Duhallow, 24th July 2012 (F.O'Sullivan. Chicks ringed under licence from NPWS).
Three is a very good brood size this year, with only a few other sites producing three chicks. Most have seen just 2, while several more nests have failed completely. The one positive aspect of the poor breeding summer for the owls is that at least none of our Duhallow sites have been completely abandoned. At all the failed sites, one or both the adults are still present. Should next spring and summer be even a little better than this one, there is every chance they will breed again.
