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SPECIES
FACTFILE: |
| Name: |
Little
Owl (athene noctua) |
| Length: |
21-23cm
(8-9in) |
| Wingspan: |
54-58cm
(21-23in) |
| Weight: |
150-230g,
(5-8oz) |
| Diet: |
Very
varied including mammals up to three-quarters grown rabbits,
insects, earthworms, birds up to the size of magpies. |
| Range:
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Europe,
Central & Eastern Asia, North Africa & the Middle
East.
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| U.K.habitat:
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Open
country but avoiding dense woodland.
Preferred nest sites are holes in trees, walls and the ground
– including rabbit holes.
Little owls can start breeding when only a year old. A single
clutch can contain as many as 6 eggs which take about 4 weeks
to hatch. The young leave the nest at 21 days and are fully
fledged at 5 weeks but the parents continue to feed them for
a further month.
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Biggles was only just five weeks
old when we collect him at ten-o-clock on a Sunday morning.
By Wednesday he was doing The Norfolk Show.
A five
week old Little Owl has an incredibly high 'Ahhhh!' factor!
Biggles
only stands about 4" tall and, at times, is almost totally
spherical. He can manage to look fierce and cute at the same
time and is a particular favourite with children.
We make
no apologies for including lots of pictures of Bigglest- he's
just a little sweetheart!
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| Biggles
with his brothers & sisters - he's the little one in the middle
(173kb) |
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The
first day of his new life (61kb) |
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| Accurate
daily weighing helps to monitor the progress of a baby bird (55kb) |
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The
poor Steward never knew what hit him! (88kb) |
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You
can become very protective of a baby owl .......(68kb) |
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......
and he'll trust you completely! (88kb) |
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A
bird in the hand (57kb) |
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Yes, he's that small
(87kb) |
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The
Great Escape. Once he'd got to this stage is was time for the jesses
(57kb) |
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We give
our babies their own cuddly toys. They spend half their time snuggled
up against them and the other half beating the living daylights
out of them (62kb) |
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Cute or what? (69kb) |
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