When Gylfie, the female barn owl at Fotherdale, lost her partner in October I was worried for the future of my resident barn owls. But Gylfie wastes no time in searching for a new mate.
Watch Gylfie & Finn interact live on my nest cam: • Live From Fotherdale |... and follow their story in this playlist: • Barn Owls 🦉 Gylfie & F...
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Barn owl looking for romance
But she wasted no time in searching for a new mate and over the course of the next few weeks had several eligible bachelors. I watched on my nest cameras as several suitors tried to impress her with displays and even attempted to touch beaks with her.
Mystery barn owl on the scene
But none of these new owls seemed to impress her until one day a mystery male barn owl appeared on the scene. His approach was to settle into a nest box and call for her.
But the new male barn owl is a little shy
But when she responded to his calls he seemed a little nervous, even hopping away from her when she tried to touch beaks. This male was obviously keen, but very new to the barn owl dating scene.
Barn owl courtship
It was amazing to see these early stages of barn owl courtship on the nest cameras and before long the new male was getting the hang of it and I witnessed some tender interactions. Before long the pair began checking out new nest sites, a sure sign that they were now looking ahead to next year's breeding season.
Mystery male's identity revealed
I noticed that this male wore an identification ring so I decided to investigate his origins. Each ID ring is unique and it didn't me long to work out that this barn owl was a male I had actually rehabilitated here at Fotherdale the previous year.
A Fotherdale rescue
The records showed that this was one of four chicks rescued from a barn in Scarborough and given to me by Ryedale Rehabilitation to release a year ago. He had been just a small ball of fluff when he arrived and I had had to act as a surrogate parent to him. And now here he was having survived last year's winter and establishing himself here at Fotherdale as a new breeding owl.
Marking the success of my owl rehabilitation
This is proof that my rehabilitation programme here at Fotherdale is working!
For more on this Christmas owl romance and it's significance to wildlife rehabilitation read my latest blog here: www.robertefuller.com/diary/a...
ABOUT ME
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I am a British wildlife artist and filmmaker on a mission to share my love for wildlife with the world. As well as creating detailed animal film and art portraits, I promote wildlife tours around the world and do all I can to help conserve and protect wildlife here at my home in Yorkshire. I hope that by putting nature in the frame I can foster a deep love for wildlife amongst my followers.
You may like to purchase my artwork which you can find on my website: www.robertefuller.com. Many of my paintings are portraits of the wonderful characters you watch here!
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© Robert E Fuller
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