Thursday 14 October

What an eventful day - and it is only 10h20 Central African Time!
To fill you in:
The little chick that fell out the nest a couple of days ago hasn't been looking good. Last night I even went out on the balcony with a torch to see if it had fallen behind or by the side of the pot container. Eventually it lifted its head up in the nest an I saw it, but it wasn't looking healthy.

This morning we had a heavy thundershower and the chicks were left in the nest by themselves. The two larger ones huddled together, but the little one didn't even open its eyes as it lay in the cold and wet. As soon as the rain stopped, Pot Plant Owl flew back to the nest, and sheltered the 2 bigger chicks, completely ignoring the little one. We knew then we had to intervine.

We have an incredible bird vet (we have parrots as pets) so we called him immediately. He said we need to bring the little chick in, which we did. That's what some of you saw this morning on the webcam.

The little chick was covered in hundreds of small mites. (Consequently, I was covered in them as I held the chick tightly in my jersey). At the moment, the chick is on a heated pad at the vet's so that it can get warm. It has been sprayed for the mites so they shouldn't be a problem anymore.

The vet couldn't look at any injuries at this stage because the chick was too cold and weak. In all likelihood, if the chick seems physically okay (apart from malnourished now and cold), it will go to a Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre. There is will be fed up and hopefully released back into the wild when it is healthier and a bit older.

The Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre it will go to is one that we support in the sales of our book on the owls. Some of the proceeds of every book sale goes to one of 3 charities.

Now, especially, it is fantastic to know that the funds we have helped raise so far for the Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre will go into hopefully saving our baby chick.

Will keep you updated.