We went to the Nizhny Novgorod region to see the ornithologist-owlogist and owl realtor Alexey Levashkin @Ornithologist's Slippers
This time it was not an official Nestorytour, but an individual "excursion" with a full immersion in rain, clay, labor, mosquitoes and everything else. Alexey called us to go with him to check the places of the Eagle owls hives, and vet Maria Markina gave us two of her wards, the grey owl owlets, to load up on, so that we could put them in the hollows to their foster parents.
This video is about how we were looking for new families for the owlets, at the same time ringing the chicks.
We checked three hollows. The first one originally had 6 chicks, but by our visit, four had already left the house, there were only two left. To them we planted the eldest owlet from Maria.
In the second hollow there were 5 owlets and they were still not ready to leave the house. Alexey decided not to put the sixth one there, so as not to overload his parents. We put him in the third hollow, where, as in the first, there were only two owlets, close in age to our own.
Owl parents accept and feed other owl owlets without any problems. But they must be owlets of the same species and of the same age as their own children.
And be sure to take into account the number of owls. If the brood is large, it will be difficult for the parents to feed the new extra owlets. This should be taken into account.
#crazyzoologists #nestorytours #cuteowls