The owls are out

It is getting late in the season for owls. By now most of the chicks have fledged, at least from the nests I have been checking. All in all, it proved to be an outstanding season, and no doubt will the numbers of ringed owlets reflect that, once the data has been collected.

There are still Long-eared Owls feeding nestlings, but then this is a migrant here, starting later than the resident species. However, last winter lots seemed to have wintered, as the food situation was extraordinary good. Many of the wintering birds also started to breed unusually early, and managed to fledge their chicks by late April, when the normal time to fledge would be now.
The tiny Pygmy Owls also had a brilliant season, and many of the pairs managed to fledge as many as 8 chicks.

A Pygmy Owl chick just hours after fledging

An Eagle Owl chick, nearly 60 centimetres long, imagines being invisible