Some may remember the original owl family we were watching in a suburban park last year.
They left the park at the end of November 2013 and we found them at the end of February in a mangrove swamp about a kilometre away.
In early May the male was evicted by a younger male after a battle of several hours.
The new male and the original female returned to the suburban park a little later in May and two chicks emerged from the nesting hollow in mid-September.
Sadly, the new male was a poor provider of food and in fact, was stealing the chicks food from the mother.
He soon disappeared and the mother successfully raised two healthy owlets on her own.
On the 17th December the mum and her two owlets went back to the mangroves.
Today we noticed one of the owlets was holding what seems to be the remains of a noisy miner.
Is it possible he caught it himself or was it something the mother gave to him?
Normally the adult holds the food during the day and the owlets gather around at dusk to share it with the adult(s).
Cheers,
Antonia
Great photos and thanks for the update.
Seems to be enjoying the meal in the last photo
Mother Owl traded up for a younger bloke, but turned out he was a slacker, so she gave him the flick... could be a very human story.
Samford Valley Qld.
Would be interesting to see how long before a new male turns up.
Very interesting. Thanks for sharing the story and pics :)