A man collects Barn Owl (Tyto alba) chicks from a nest box to ring them, collect data and help future monitoring.
This image shows two men from the Suffolk Wildlife trust carrying out a health check on Barn Owl chicks. The adult will fly from the box when they knock on the side. The chicks / owlets are then carefully retrieved from the box. They are then inspected, weighed, measured and checked for general health / issues. They are then ringed so that they can be identified if seen / found later in their lives. The ring can be used to determine travel distances, dispersal and range of territories. Whilst this is going on the chicks are quite docile and are happy to be handled (unlike some other bird of prey chicks). Every effort is taken to ensure it's carried out as carefully and quickly as possible and the chicks are then returned to the box. The adult will return within a few minutes of the nest box being left in peace
Size: 3578px × 5442px
Location: Private garden, Suffolk.
Photo credit: © Toby Houlton / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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