Friday, October 15, 2010

Friday 15 October

Update on 'Teeny' (the little chick in the rehab centre). Teeny is doing well, and looking a lot better apparently. He / She was very fortunate to have missed the series of hailstorms we had last night, which the other two chicks didn't escape. The Wildlife Rehab Centre person in the clinic said that Teeny has two dedicated people feeding it, and it should be able to come back to be re-introduced next week.

The re-introduction thing is new to us too. If all goes well, Pot Plant Owl will realise there is another mouth to feed, and just feed it. If things don't work out, we will take Teeny back to the rehab centre for feeding, and later release into the wild. Either way, Teeny is in the nest of hands at the moment and my honest feeling is that he/ she wouldn't have survived past yesterday if we didn't take it away.

I felt quite stressed last night watching the other two little chicks huddling together when the hail came down. At least the hail stones weren't too big. It is Nature, but one forgets how hard it is for them, unless you are watching closely, like we are doing now.

12 comments:

  1. it's nice to here that teeny is doing good now and get stronger. i hope pot plant owl accept her little one back so we can watch him/her grow big to! we wait for it! :)

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  2. So happy to hear Teeny is being so well cared for and doing well, hope reintroduction goes well :) Was astounded watching the hail last night, in my ignorance i had no idea you ever got hail!!

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  3. I'm glad to hear that the little chick is doing wel. I'm very curious about the development of re-introducing the little chick in the nest. Thank you for your good care

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  4. I hope everything will be ok when the baby Owl will be reintroduced back.
    I watched the thunderstorm and the hail storm lastnight and the mother didn't bother to cover her chicks :-(

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  5. Where can I see the proposed names for the little ones?

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  6. Molly's owlettes have a beautiful owlbox to shelter them. They even have a water mister when it gets too hot. Why can't you provide some shelter for the owl babies from the elements? The owls in Molly's owlbox are bigger and they are protected!

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  7. Diesel. Most probabley they were not expecting an Owl to lay eggs in a pot plant!!
    Good gosh!

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  8. Yes Panda, but can't some improvements be made? And I think it's a potted plant, not a pot plant

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  9. If you read the blog, they have tried to provide shelter but ppo does not like them near her babies. I think Molly and her owlettes are a different situation all together. As they have also explained, pot plant is what they call potted plants there. In the wild there are not pre-made boxes nor are there water misters. Nature is very harsh so that only the strong survive. I am quite sure that had teeny not been on that balcony then he/ she would not have survived. They are doing the best they can for a wild animal.

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  10. Well said Brandy. I agree with everything you say.
    The people there are doing it the natural way, as it should be, no matter what nature throws at them.
    They have helped the baby of the family and I congratulate them for that!
    Here in UK, we say pot plant too!

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  11. Hi Diesel

    Thanks for your comments. This is the 3rd year the Pot Plant Owl has nested with us. The first year, we literally found an egg in the container in the evening after we saw PPO lie there for the day. No warning at all. When we contacted the Wildlife Rehab Centre to find out what we should do with the egg, we were told to leave it. we were also told that we had lost our balcony because the owl had chosen to nest there. They advised us to look for an owl box or a sturdy dog igloo (what we call them in SA). At much expense and effort, we presented BOTH items for Pot Plant Owl - even putting the owl box on the same height level right next to the nest. Pot Plant Owl just was not interested at all. In fact, if you stay watching when the chicks start moving onto the balcony floor as we zoom out, you will see the owl box still there - only metres / feet away from her nest. So yes, we did try to offer more protection, but without messing with Nature. We've put up shade cloth for sun and some hail protection, and honestly more than this, we can't do. We go so far as to keep our bedroom curtains permanently closed for these 4 months, so that we do not disturb the owls. I hope this meets with your understanding that we are doing the best we can - for them, not us.

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  12. Thank you for your explanation and your care and concern for these sweet owlettes.

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