School Daze

We had our second school visit to the Scottish Owl Centre today. Getting the word out about the centre as an educational resource has been a high priority since opening day. Our first school visit was a few weeks ago and went so well I was really looking forward to the next one. Now we have two this week and more bookings are coming in daily.

Well to cut to the chase today’s visit went great. The school had travelled all the way from Edinburgh, and after an essential pit stop to the Park play area they came through to our flying display arena.

Our arena has enough seats for over two hundred people, so plenty of room for a school group and any day visitors that may wish to come along for the show too. We can theme our flying displays to whatever a school may want as they cover many topics in the school curriculum, and if a school is studying a particular topic in class then we can tailor our material to suit.

Today we started out with our baby, Sam the American Barn Owl. The children always love seeing a fluffy baby but it’s a great opportunity to learn about the life of an owl in the wild, how they live, nest, incubate and hatch the eggs, rear owlets, how long it takes for the owlets to grow up, when they get their feathers, how they learn to fly, how they learn to feed… all with a living (squeaking!) model there in front of them.

Next I flew Lofty, a three year old Barn Owl of the type you find out and around the UK, and in particular for these children, Scotland. The children here today had been reading ‘The owl who was afraid of the dark’ in class, so as I flew Lofty I asked them questions about the owls, to see what they had learned and remembered. Lofty himself was in a funny mood today, distracted by the strange pops and crackles coming from our speaker system today. We hope to have the problem fixed tomorrow but today it was a distraction we didn’t need. Having said that Lofty flew really well, choosing to fly lap after lap around the arena before landing on a perch at random. He didn’t go where I wanted him to go and when I wanted him to, but he looked fantastic all the same! I like to ask the group questions as I fly the birds, and enjoy seeing them think about what they are learning during the shows. My talk wasn’t quite as flowing or ordered as I’d like but it’ll get better each time.

After Lofty came Broo the Eurasian Eagle Owl. If Lofty flew well, floating round and round like a big white moth, well Broo had the children laughing and squealing all at once as she charged about over their heads and from one end of the arena to the other. It’s always spectacular to see the largest species of owl fly so close and Broo puts on a great show.

After the display I took the group on a ‘Walk to the North Pole’ guided tour. It was more of a whistle stop tour as the kids hadn’t had lunch. We ended up at the Snowy Owls of course, and of course they were a big hit.

The rest of the day was quiet in comparison, but with more odd weather that was understandable too. Sunshine and snow are not expected companions for May, but as long as there is more of the sunshine than of the snow it’s not all bad. Prince and Sarabi flew in the afternoon flying display, and Sam made another appearance in the arena, this time taking a few more steps to investigate the nearest bench. Between myself and volunteers Karen and Mhairi we set out a ‘feed tag’ system around the centre this afternoon too. This will help new staff and volunteers know what food to put in each pen each day. Eventually it all becomes clear and the tags won’t be needed but to start out it can be bewildering trying to remember what to put into over sixty aviaries!

Well I think it’s time I went about finding some food for myself, so I’ll sign off and see you next time. ‘Til then, gnite!

Dawn Chorus with a difference

This morning I found myself awake at 4 a.m. and unable to get back to sleep (that’s what I get for sleeping so much in my time off!). Lying in bed I enjoyed listening to one of the great wonders of the natural world; the Dawn Chorus – with a typically Scottish Owl Centre twist.

Living next door to a collection of over eighty owls I do hear the occasional hoot in the night, but not all owls are night time birds. At 4 a.m. though it was a Robin that I heard singing first, then to be accompanied by a ‘beep beep beep beep beep beep beep’ from our Pearl Spotted Owlet. It made a strange counterpoint to the melody of the classic sound of the British countryside, this tiny African owl and the song of the Robin.

After a while the owl was replaced by a Swallow singing from outside my bedroom window, then a Blackcap from the other side of the house. These two birds have recently returned on migration from their wintering grounds, and a very welcome return it is too. The Swallows must find their return to Polkemmet Country Park a bit of a strange experience this year, as the place they nested last year is quite a bit different now.

The Scottish Owl Centre, newly relocated from Campbelltown in Kintyre, is housed within the old Walled Garden that once belonged to a great mansion house. The mansion is long demolished, but in recent years the Walled Garden has been used for storage for council equipment and assorted materials. Among the assortment of sheds and garages the Swallows made their homes annually, raised their young, then left them for warmer climes and a food supply in winter.

For the first day or two since returning this year the birds sat on the power lines and took some time getting used to the new scene. Gone are the places they nested, replaced now by aviaries full of owls and other new constructions. Ever resourceful, the Swallows are simply inspecting the facilities and picking out new nest sites among our Education zone and wild bird hide. There’s even a Pied Wagtail trying to nest in the chute in the children’s climbing frame! Good luck to that one!

So, as I start my day and wonder what kind of weather we will be subjected to today I will leave you with this question; when did you last listen to the dawn chorus?

Laters all.

Snap snap snap

On a quiet day for visitors we had quite an interesting morning all things considered.

A photographer from the Herald newspaper came through to take some pictures of the owls in action in the display arena. It was quite the setup, with lights and a screen etc, so we weren’t sure that the birds would be comfortable at first.

Starting out with probably our most steady bird I brought out Sarabi the Milky Eagle Owl. As expected she took it all in her stride. She’s quite nosey and likes new things so she was quite happy to sit and watch the photographer set up equipment or change cameras. She flew well and was really well behaved – but then she always is – as long as there are no pushchairs around!

Next up was Prince the Ashy Faced Owl. As he has been so good in the public displays lately I figured he’d be co-operative. Some of the pictures the photographer showed us were amazing, the lighting making his golden brown plumage almost glow. He was less patient than Sarabi but very well behaved.

Kenya the White Faced Owl is very photogenic, and the photographer took some good portrait shots, but she was too fast for him to get good pictures of her in flight. The same was true for Hosking the Tawny Owl too, but we arranged the angles well so that Hosking swooped onto a perch just right and one photograph was particularly stunning.

When Oulu the Great Grey Owl had a turn we really didn’t know if she would be patient enough at all. She is more jumpy by nature and the most moody of our trained birds. Having said that she was in quite a good mood today (hungry, in other words!). She took a little convincing to fly with all the tall tripods and screen and equipment around, but she did us proud. Again the photographer managed to take some spectacular shots of her flying to a perch. She definitely didn’t have the patience of birds like Sarabi but she always has a dramatic ‘wow factor’.

We hope that the pictures will be part of a feature in the magazine included with the newspaper at the weekend, although I can’t remember if that is Saturday or Sunday. It would be fantastic to see Oulu or one of the others on the cover maybe!

The rest of the day was quiet at the centre, with the weather turning wet and windy and surprisingly cold. This Spring seems to be full of ups and downs as far as temperature goes. I’m looking forward to dryer weather at the weekend but it would be handy if it were dry tomorrow too. We have our first school booking and 30 to 40 children will be visiting. At least we have plenty of sheltered areas to get them out of any rain, and our display team will put on a good show rain or shine.

Around the owl collection today I felt that the elderly Long-eared Owl that we have been caring for actually looked a little better. Not a lot better but she still has a lot of strength and eats well.

One of our Mottled Owls spent another day sitting low in the nest box so I’m hoping that means she is laying eggs. I’ll see what’s happening tomorrow and maybe start the clock. There is still no sign of hatching in the Ural Owl nest but there could be tiny wee owlets in there. Our fingers are crossed for that and for Hawk Owl eggs hatching in the next few days too.

Right, that’s me for this blog. ‘Til tomorrow, gnite.

El poncho

It was quite a busy day at the Scottish Owl Centre today. Despite the occasionally heavy showers we had a good number of visitors and we put on three flying displays for them.

For some reason my talks were better, I felt, than the last few days have been. Some days you just aren’t in the zone, other days you are. It helped that the birds I flew today were all in the same zone too. Sarabi showed no signs that yesterdays bad encounter with wheelchairs was still on her mind. She flew in two shows today and was good both times. She is getting good at the long flights down the arena to go to the high perch in one corner. Twice she flew by different routes, and a third time up to that perch was from a standing start as she was on the floor in front of a bench of visitors. She lifted off almost vertically – right in front of their faces! They loved it, as did those whose heads she flew just above too.

Tiger and Prince made up the afternoon show with Sarabi, and they kept up the pace. Prince particularly showed that he is getting used to the new flying arena now. He is so comfortable with it all now that he anticipates which post I’m heading for and beats me to it sometimes, or he chooses to fly over to a perch – or even do a lap of the arena, knowing that he will still get a reward when I eventually call him back to a perch. I’m really pleased with how he is coming on and am revising what I say in my talk about Ashy Faced Owls. They are beautiful birds and quite special to me, so I want my talk to do them justice. We’re working on a concept for an all ‘Americas’ display in the coming months, and want to include the Ashy Faced Owl in that.

One more member of our display team has that ‘Americas’ link too. Poncho the Tropical Screech Owl is a good representative of the region and as the tiniest member of the team gets a lot of attention, especially from children. He is the last of our current team to bring into condition for the shows, and I’ve not mentioned him much before now. Being so small it is more tricky to get his weight right for flying displays but he is pretty close now, just another 10 grams to lose. Today he starred in the photo booth for part of the day, to help him get used to being around people again. He looked a bit bedraggled as he got a bit wet in a shower first thing but he had the ‘cute’ factor in his favour. He is such a character, and nobody can resist saying ‘aww’ when they see him.

We’re lining up groups of owls in the trained team to put on various themes, as well as the Americas. Another theme we are aiming to put on is an African theme. European owls would be another theme of course. It is good to have such a diverse team of trained birds as we can do so much for education with these birds acting as ‘ambassadors’ for their wild cousins around the world.

We will be adding new members to our team in the coming weeks too. Watch this space!

Right, I’m off, see you tomorrow. Gnite!

Egg ‘watch’ starts here!

Well today was a pretty average day at the Scottish Owl Centre, but by no means dull, how can anything be dull around owls?

Our Ural Owls showed no signs that any eggs have hatched yet, but I’m not surprised by that. Any newly hatched owlet would be tiny and hardly need much food at all. As I always do with breeding owls, I put in some food in the morning as well as the afternoon feed. It’s usually the only way to tell if there are extra mouths being fed, but as I say at this early stage they wouldn’t need much food anyway. Plus there’s the fact that Ural Owls are quite nocturnal by nature, so extra food put out in the daytime would most likely be left until dusk anyway. There may not have been any hatching yet in any case, as the date is only an estimated hatching date, hatching could be anytime in the next week. I really hope they do though!

In today’s flying demonstrations we had a hiccup in the first show. Sarabi froze in front of audience that included wheelchairs, and only did two long flights before I had to put her back in her aviary. She has been doing really well with facing and overcoming her fear of things on wheels but today was something of a relapse. She flew well in afternoon show after time to settle down though. Prince flew really well in two shows today, his weight reaching 320 grams, the ideal weight we would expect for a Barn Owl of his size, even though he is an Ashy Faced Owl. Lofty, Bruce and Tiger also flew well, with Tiger and Bruce flying to benches next to audience – who loved it, especially the children, and they loved having their fingers nibbled by an owl – Bruce is very gentle so it’s fun, and physical contact in this safe supervised way helps make a ‘contact’ in the person that just looking may never do. It’s certainly something to tell people, how you were nibbled by an owl today!

I showed round and talked to another new volunteer this afternoon. We are still building up our volunteer rota and it is great to have so much interest.

For those following updates on our elderly and ill Long-eared Owl, well she is still hanging in there, still eating well, but her condition hasn’t improved either. A very resilient old girl for sure.

Out around the collection today I noticed that one of the White Faced Owls was inside the nest box. There has been one sitting in front of the box for a few days now, and I expect that this was the male guarding their chosen nest site. The female was inside the box all day today. I will keep watching them. As always I start counting them as nesting from the third full day in the box. I had expected to see breeding behaviour from the Ashy Faced Owls first, but the White Faced may sneak in there before them, with any luck!

Right I’m signing off on a short blog tonight, will be up and out early again and will write as usual tomorrow night. ‘Til then, goodnight.

 

The Bard of Polkemmet

The American Barred Owl was calling last night. ‘Who cooks for you, who cooks for you all’ is how people describe their call. The Great Horned Owl was calling too. Two of the most enigmatic sounds of American night time, hooting through the spring night. This isn’t America though; this is the Scottish Owl Centre, one of very few places in the British Isles that you will hear these two owls together.

The American Barred Owls have only been at the centre for a short time, coming from two separate collections and only meeting when they were released into the aviary here. The female settled quickly, choosing her favourite place to perch and hasn’t been phased by much since. The male on the other hand was nervous and jumpy since his arrival, mostly perching up at the back of the aviary on the edge of the nest shelf. It’s good to know then, that he is at least comfortable in his new home to be calling at night. He has even been looking more relaxed during the daytime. I hope his hooting means he is trying to woo the female; it would be amazing if they were to breed.

With the night time serenade over by the light of day, I found all of the owls safe and well when I did my morning check. The elderly Long-eared Owl that has been cared for in our quieter off-view area for the last couple of days was still alive and had eaten a little overnight. Her condition continues to deteriorate slowly. I have moved her from an outdoor aviary into the Prep Room overnight once again. I wish there was some way to help her recover but some things just can’t be ‘fixed’; you can’t rewind the hands of time. All we can do is make her comfortable and hope for the best for her.

This left me feeling quite sad most of the day again, with my flying display talks being quite below par for my usual standards. Once again I was pleased with Prince in the afternoon show. Daily practice seems to be working for him, and today he showed a bit of flair in his flight. He even flies up to the high perch in one corner of the arena without much encouragement. I still haven’t managed to get Lofty back up there since the speaker feedback scared him in a recent show. Prince needs a little more time ‘socialising’ to remind him of how to behave properly when sitting on the glove, but his flying is going really well now. If I get chance tomorrow I’d like to spend some more time with Prince, perhaps on a walkabout around the centre.

I think that’s about it for tonight’s blog, so until tomorrow, goodnight.

On with the show/s

Well the female Long-eared Owl made it through another night and another day, but is still fading. Today she bravely tried to eat but remained in the ‘pet carrier’ box even though the door was open. As I said yesterday at least she has somewhere safe and quiet. I’ve put her indoors in the box again overnight, and will check her first thing in the morning.

I checked her nestbox today and found three eggs. I was a bit puzzled that one looked larger and a different shape from the other two, as if they were from different birds. Either way they were stone cold and upon opening them up they were clear and infertile. The pair of Long-eared Owls she shared the aviary with both perch down at the opposite end of the pen, and show no signs of being interested in breeding. All the same, I removed the eggs and cleaned the woodchip nesting material inside the box to get it ready in case the pair should choose to breed after all.

Our flying displays were popular today, with the sunshine bringing more people out to Polkemmet Country Park and to the Owl Centre. I flew Lofty and Sarabi in the morning display as usual, and as usual they both flew well. It’s nice to see the trained birds perform so consistently well day to day. I did the talk and flew the birds in the afternoon display too, flying Prince, Kenya and Sarabi again.

During the lunchtime show I am ‘back stage’ preparing one bird to go out and putting the last one back in it’s aviary. I enjoy spending time with Bruce the Southern Boobook Owl as he is a very comical character. I have flown him once but even while he is sat on my glove waiting to go into the arena he is fun to be around. Some owls wait patiently, some are nervous, Bruce is alert and hyper, making little chirruping noises that remind me of a phone ring tone.

We’re hoping to bring Hudson the Great Horned Owl into the public displays this week. He will need a couple more days training to get over his confusion regarding the speaker system but he is a ‘no nonsense’ bird in flight, willing to go wherever instructed. One thing I’m finding interesting about seeing the different kinds of owl flying in the arena is the different flight patterns. You would expect one large owl to fly just the same as another large owl, but Sarabi flies very differently from Broo, quite slow and sedate, even though they are both kinds of Eagle Owl. Hudson flies differently from either of them too, low and fast. I’ll try him out in a training session in the arena with the mic and speaker system on and see if he fares any better than last time.

That’s all for tonight folks, ‘til tomorrow gnite.

Broo comes through

I got another quick sighting of Great Horned Owlet this morning. Just a quick glimpse again as the mother is very protective and wraps her wings around the young really quickly.

The weather was kind to us today, the forecast showers passing us by until late afternoon. When the rain showed up I was pleased for once, as it would help the grass and wild flower seed mix that I put into the bed in the Long-eared Owl aviary.

The flying display team came through again today. Our core team members put on a great show, and are being joined one by one by others as they graduate from their training. Today it was the turn of Prince the Ashy Faced Owl to make his debut in front of an audience. He did some shows back at the first site of the Scottish Owl Centre but in the months it has taken to relocate he has been more than a bit rusty. I’ve mentioned him many times in my blog and it’s great to see how far he has come in the last few months. He has been doing so well in his training this week that I decided today was the day. As we began the third show of the day I brought him into the arena and introduced him to the audience. I hadn’t really thought of a script for a talk about him or Ashy Faced Owls but it all came together as he flew around the perches. My talk explained about the rarity of the Ashy Faced Owl, how this came about, the conservation programme to protect them from extinction in the wild, and how consumer power can help drive sustainable agriculture. That may have been a bit heavy but seemed to get a good reaction. At least Prince was there to lighten the mood. He did really well, anticipating where he was supposed to fly to next without hesitation – or getting lost and landing in some random place bewildered. Okay he did that once but that’s okay for his first show! I think that both his flying and my talk will only get better with each display so Prince makes it to the daily shows from here.

Tiger the Brown Wood Owl raised some laughs in the show too, as she also landed in a random place – on a bench next to a little girl (who was amazed to be this close to an owl!). I made a joke out of it and sat a little further along the bench saying how it was tiring work flying around the arena, and Tiger wanted a rest. I put a piece of food on the bench for her and she pounced, showing natural hunting technique even if it was just to a piece of chicken on a wooden bench. Later, the little girl had her photo taken holding Tiger. A perfect memento to go with a wonderful experience.

So with Prince and Tiger providing the laughs I brought in Sarabi to deliver some majestic awe inspiring flights the length of the display arena. She is such an impressive bird in flight. She is getting really good at flying long and up high to the highest perch in the corner of the arena. I’m constantly amazed at how good she is and how consistently good she is.

Sarabi and Oulu (Great Grey Owl) are the largest of our team currently in the shows, but there are two others that we aim to bring in the shows soon. Hudson the Great Horned Owl and Broo the European Eagle Owl are going through their training but aren’t far off ‘graduation’ too. Broo made her first flight in the arena today, only without an audience. I was sure she would make at least some attempt to fly to a perch but was amazed when she went through her old routine with only a little hesitation. She isn’t quite at the right ‘hunting weight’ yet. Once her weight comes down a little more she will be whizzing around the arena. Today she was really spectacular as she flew around and between posts and perches. I’ve flown European Eagle Owls before but never seen one fly like this. I have a lot to learn when it comes to flying different types of owls and I’m clearly in the right place to learn.

So, I’d better sign off from this blog and get some sleep. I have more learning to do tomorrow.

Gnite all.

Ain’t nothin’ but a number.

Well this is my 100^th Blog entry, marking my 100^th day working at the Scottish Owl Centre! To think I’ve never been able to keep a diary before this is quite an achievement.

It was a busy day at the Centre today, probably the most visitors we’ve had so far. It was great to see so many in the audiences at the flying displays and good to see some faces we’ve seen before; season ticket holders back for a second visit already – and we’ve only been open for a week!

Around the aviaries today I noted that the Long-eared Owl is still sat in the nestbox, so I’m marking her down as breeding and counting on the calendar to when the eggs should be due to hatch. Over in the Rainforest Realm the female Brown Wood Owl spent her first full day in her nestbox. Things were looking good in the African Spotted Eagle Owl aviary too. The female has been sitting in her nest box, but only in the afternoons. We weren’t really holding out much hope for her breeding as she is 19 years old, and the male in the pen with her is just around 3 or 4. She may be too old to breed and he is just about old enough… but today I did see him calling to her so perhaps they have bonded. I guess we will just have to watch and see what happens. Meanwhile across the way at the Milky Eagle Owl pen, only days since losing their only egg, the male has been heard singing to the female. She is still sitting in the nest box most of the day but I did see her out at the end of the day. Maybe there will be a duet tonight?

Back in the ‘Owl School’ training sessions that I have been doing with some of the display team that haven’t been ready for audiences yet. I was pleased that Prince the Ashy Faced Owl flew well again, making him more reliable and closer to promoting to the display team. I want him to do another couple of days at this level before trying him in front of an audience. Like some tag-team, just as I did yesterday I flew Hudson the Great Horned Owl once Prince had finished his training. Hudson weighed just a little less and was a little more on the ball once in the arena. Today he flew up to the high corner perch and down again – twice. I am still getting used to seeing a Great Horned Owl in flight and the look of intent on his face as he flies toward me still makes me want to flee for my life! He was very good though, and is probably just a couple of days away from making the team too. Maybe Prince and Hudson will debut on the same day?

Okay I’m done, time to sign off. Gnite!

Ups and downs and pushchairs

A mostly rainy day today, but at least it was warmer than the last few. The owls were all fine, and the hosepipes were all working, so today’s volunteer and I got to work cleaning the aviaries. These daily duties still need to be done and we had a day to catch up on.

The weather affected our visitor numbers naturally, but we did have some intrepid people come to see the owls. It was nice to see some people back for their second visit with their children – our first repeat visitors and we’ve been open for less than a week! Our flying displays went well and the audiences seemed to really enjoy seeing the birds fly so close. I made a couple of changes to the line up for the birds I flew, as Lofty the Barn Owl was over his flying weight. Instead Tiger the Brown Wood Owl took his place for the morning show. She is getting a little more confident flying in the arena with each show and looks great. In the afternoon show Lofty’s stand in was our other Barn Owl Dylan. It was a bit of an experiment to fly him in front of an audience as he isn’t always quite sure where he is landing since he began to lose his sight. He is such a good natured owl though and so willing to fly it would be a shame to pass him up just because of this. By keeping him flying in the centre of the arena he can learn his way around, memorise the layout, and learn how far he needs to fly to reach the next perch safely. Today he did really well. I kept him to one end of the arena, where there was most light too, and he not only figured out what I was wanting him to do but picked himself when he wanted to fly to the next perch. Three or four times he flew off and made it to the perch, turning round and flying back to my glove when I waved a piece of food for him. He seemed really pleased to do his bit and the audience loved to see him fly. From today’s performance I think he can do more shows for as long as he wants to do them.

Sarabi the Milky Eagle Owl flew in two shows again, but in the morning show she flew over TWO pushchairs! If you’ve been following her progress in my blog you’ll know that this huge owl has an irrational fear of things on wheels, especially pushchairs (no idea why). Before joining us at the Scottish Owl Centre she would freak out whenever she saw one. With a little encouragement, and food, she has gradually faced her fear and gotten a bit less terrified and a bit more courage whenever they are around. Today she stared at the buggy’s from a high perch in the arena but after a few minutes she flew to me, then four or five more times up and down the length of the arena. She was very brave! She’s come on so well and is a fantastic member of the team.

In other news from the collection, I’m sad to report that our Milky Eagle Owls are no longer nesting. We found broken eggshell in the aviary and the female sitting up on top of the nest ledge. I waited until the end of the day to see whether she returned to the nest, but as she didn’t I climbed a ladder to investigate. The nest was empty, meaning there was only the one egg and that was broken. While it is a little disappointing it isn’t all that surprising to any of us here. The female laid the egg just eleven days after the pair arrived at the Scottish Owl Centre, but nobody heard any courtship singing from the pair. We hear Sarabi, the imprinted Milky Eagle Owl from all over the site when she sings, so an extra two voices to the choir would have been heard in the next town! What this does show us though is that the female Milky Eagle Owl is a fit and healthy bird, in good condition, adjusted and settled into her new home. It also shows that the male will feed her on the nest should they actually breed at some later date. Sometimes it can take years to learn these basic facts about a new pair of birds, so we are still ahead of the game so to speak. There is still time this year for her to (literally) recycle and lay eggs again, hopefully in another month or so when warmer temperatures would help them get through the incubation period.

In this line of work these things happen regularly, and you have to expect ups and downs. From this ‘down’ today there was also ‘ups’; our Long-eared Owl is still sitting in her nestbox, lying pretty low on her front, so there is a good chance that by the end of tomorrow she will be classed as breeding. In the Rainforest Realm today, the female Brown Wood Owl was seen sitting in her nestbox too. Another one to keep an eye on and breeding in this exhibit would be a real bonus.

Right so that’s another blog done and time for me to sign off. As always, ‘til tomorrow, gnite.