Barn Owl sitting on a Jackdaws egg. (1 Viewer)

[Jk27]

Hi.
We have an owl box in the tree at the bottom of our garden(lucky us) which has a pair of barn owls in residence.
We have a camera in the box.
On the 29th of April the owls moved in evicting a pair of Jackdaws.
The jackdaws left behind an egg which the Barn owl is sitting on.
She has also laid two eggs of her own.

Is this something which happens often?

Anyone have any ideas what the outcome may be?

I look forward to any replies

 

[Mila]

Hi.
We have an owl box in the tree at the bottom of our garden(lucky us) which has a pair of barn owls in residence.
We have a camera in the box.
On the 29th of April the owls moved in evicting a pair of Jackdaws.
The jackdaws left behind an egg which the Barn owl is sitting on.
She has also laid two eggs of her own.

Is this something which happens often?

Anyone have any ideas what the outcome may be?

I look forward to any replies

It is very interesting. Could you please post videos from your camera?

 

[jurek]

Not often but repeatedly happens. I guess the jackdaw egg is already dead, or at best the chick will die very soon.

You could consider putting another nest box for jackdaws, too.

I read about a situation, when jackdaws and barn owls squabbled over one nesting hole with a different outcome. The owls nested inside, but jackdaws nevertheless built a nest at the entrance. Barn owls came and left walking over the back of incubating jackdaw. I don't remember the outcome of this one. In such situations, often both pairs fail because of constant disturbance. Hopefully, in your case, at least the barn owls will raise chicks.

 

[Jk27]

Since my first post we have 4 owl eggs and she continues to sit on the jackdaw egg.
The male seems to be a very proficient hunter so fingers crossed .

 

[Jk27]

Egg number 5 was laid today.

 

[delia todd]

I really find this so intriguing JK. It must be interesting for you to watch too.

I'd love to know how this pans out.

 

[Jk27]

6 owl eggs now and jackdaws egg.

 

[Mila]

6 owl eggs now and jackdaws egg.

Keep us posted please.

 

[Jk27]

The jackdaw egg hatched today and the barn owl ate it.
Not something you hear of every day.

 

[KC Foggin]

I guess it was just cooking it's meal.

 

[Mila]

The jackdaw egg hatched today and the barn owl ate it.
Not something you hear of every day.

Which means that she probably realized it was not her chick. Then why other birds feeding other birds chicks that are much bigger than themselves?

 

[Jk27]

This first egg hatched last night at 22:30. The males is going out hunting earlier than he was and there is usually a good supply of voles in the box.
Things seem to be going well so far.

 

[jurek]

The jackdaw egg hatched today and the barn owl ate it.
Not something you hear of every day.

I thought the egg cooled to death during the time owls and jackdaws argued over the ownership of the box.

This is expected, because the jackdaw chick made different sounds and sent completely different signals than owl chick.

If species are more similar, parents will be fooled. This happens with cuckoos, and sometimes, when two songbirds build nests close to each other and one loses brood, parents will switch to feeding wrong nest. In the birds, it is thought to be a rather simple stimulus-reaction behaviour.

 

[Jk27]

Third egg hatched this morning. The male continues to provided plenty of food.
We should have put the camera in the box years ago.
We are having so much pleasure for watching the owls.

 

[d.steeley]

We recently rented a cottage in Suffolk with an large nestbox in the garden. It was a square box with a pitched roof with a ceiling between the two. Main box had a camera and was home to a pair of barn owls (5 eggs when we left) ; the roof space was home to a pair of jackdaws (no camera on that nest but adults seen going in and out regularly). Entrance holes were on opposite sides. The owls and jackdaws had been using the box for a few years without incident apparently.

Dave

 

[Jk27]

It's been a harrowing few weeks with the owls.
The recent periods of wet weather has played havoc with the adults ability to go out and hunt.
Unfortunately 3 owlets have perished.
The remaining 3 seem ok, but the male owl has been absent for several days so the female has quite a job on to feed 3 on her own.
She is also having to cope with a persistent kestrel who keeps robbing her of her catch.
We are entering another spell of wet weather so who knows what will happen next.

 

[delia todd]

Mmmm.... it has been a very difficult year for the birds, hasn't it.

Just wondering, if the male has, indeed, gone AWOL, is it possible for you to find a supply of dead mice that you could leave near to the nest for the female to feed to the young? I think good pet shops may have them for feeding reptiles.