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Stories of barn owl chicks eating one another are common. But this is the first time I have recorded this barn owl chick behaviour on film. Unlike other birds of prey, barn owls sit on their eggs as soon as they lay them, which means the eggs hatch weeks apart and there can be an alarming difference in size between barn owl chicks.
When times are tough and there is not enough food for all, the younger chicks become vulnerable to attack from their siblings.
But in this case, the offender was actually a chick from a previous clutch. Solo was the only barn owl chick to have hatched from this pairs' first brood, laid in the spring. Now 12 weeks old and able to fly, she is still partly dependent on the adult birds for food and still roosting in the nest most days.
What is unusual is this pair went on to lay a new clutch in the same nest box, with Solo still resident. This week, after three days of rain during which the adults were unable to hunt, the male barn owl brought in a muchneeded meal. The female called out to announce that dinner had arrived, and Solo was the first barn owl chick on the scene.
She rushed into the nest and snatched the food from the adult female, gulping it down in one. Still hungry, she looked round for more and turned to the pile of weekold barn owl hatchlings squirming undefended on the floor of the nest.
Then one of them wriggled and Solo's animal instincts kicked in. Before the adult female could react, Solo snatched her squirming sibling and flew out of the nest box with the chick in her beak.
After watching this barn owl family from the moment they chose this nest box to raise their young, I was horrified. But, this is nature and I've had to remind myself not to apply human sentiment to the story.
It will be interesting to see how the parent birds now deal with Solo.

I livestream the action from here every day.

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I am a British wildlife artist based in Thixendale, North Yorkshire, UK. I build ideal habitats to encourage wildlife into my garden and use nest cams to study their behaviour. These studies inform my paintings. I share the best of my video research on this channel for free. If you would like to support my work please consider a small donation here: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?cmd=_s...'>https://www.paypal.com/donate/?cmd=_s...'>https://www.paypal.com/donate/?cmd=_s...'>https://www.paypal.com/donate/?cmd=_s...

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© Robert E Fuller

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