The owl files – Chapter 3: Mixed signals

10 October 2022

Mixed signals

In my update four days ago things seemed have resolved themselves. The chicks and the female were spending their days at, or in the nest; the eggs were pushed right to the back of the nest, and it seemed that the female had given up trying to incubate them. For the last three days however, the chicks have been roosting on the parapet at the back of the Centre – hidden in the overhanging Mountain Karee foliage (where the male was roosting in my last update). The male has returned to his spot in the Evergreen Oak – but the female is still roosting at, or in the nest. She also seems to have been trying to incubate the eggs??

Given the erratic incubation of the second clutch thus far, it is unlikely that the eggs could still hatch. The female’s strange behaviour over the past two seasons is both puzzling, and concerning however.

By Geoff Lockwood