Friday 12 November

Early morning: Teeny and Jelani are sitting with Pot Plant Owl when I wake this morning. I can see Pappa on the nearby rooftop, but I can't see Indie anywhere. Pot Plant Owl is looking relaxed and seems not to be worried about Indie. This is a good sign because it means that wherever Indie is, the parents know where to look after him / her.

Teeny and Jelanie have spent the morning resting in the nest. It is quite likely that Jelani will follow Indie in the next day or two, and leave Teeny on the balcony for another few days. Any day now, we will be saying goodbye to all of them.

Last night, Teeny flew from the balcony floor up to the pillar and balcony railing. Teeny made it all the way up there without crashing down. Well done Teeny! For most of the evening, Teeny chose to stand on the pillar on the far side of the balcony. We tried moving the camera to show you Teeny, but it is not well-lit so it was hard to see our Teeny.

Jelanie demonstrated great flying skills as it flew from balcony to rooftop, back to balcony again. Indie seemed to want to 'adventure' further as its name suggests, and spent most of the evening out of sight, occasionally popping up on the roof for a few moments.

Pot Plant Owl and Pappa had a tough time keeping track of their chicks. We were woken up by PPO's alarm call which sounded for a while, but didn't see anything unusual. Perhaps it was Mamma's instructions to Indie to keep close.

PM - We caught a glimpse of Indie in the early evening on a nearby roof. Indie was with Pappa, and looked quite well. As soon as it could, Jelanie took off to join Indie and Pappa, leaving Teeny on the balcony alone.

I knew it was going to happen by Teeny's body language. Teeny appeared frustrated at being alone, and anxious to join the rest of the family. Pot Plant Owl fed Teeny well, perhaps in an effort to distract Teeny. But our Teeny has a mind of its own (don't they all?), and had other things planned. Teeny opened its wings and gracefully exited the balcony. When Teeny landed in the neighbour's garden, that was the end of Teeny's graceful spell.

We watched Teeny flap, hop and jump on the grass. The garden only has grass - there are no trees, plants or shrubs. We waited to see if Teeny would be able to find its way onto the wall, and hopefully back into our garden, but the wall is too high at this stage (over double the height of the balcony pillar). For Teeny's safety, we took the decision to return Teeny quickly back to the nest. We picked Teeny up and quickly marched it back to the balcony, and put him / her down on the floor. A minute later, Teeny was back on the balcony pillar, calling for food. Pot Plant Owl came in with food. Moments after Teeny was back on the balcony, Indie flew to the neighbour's roof, so Teeny was happy again.

The next time Teeny flies off, which may well be tomorrow night, we won't return Teeny to the balcony. If Teeny lands in our garden or on our wall, we will just let Nature take its course. Our garden is quite safe, and there are lots of things Teeny can use to flap / climb onto to get more height. If Teeny lands in the neighbour's garden again, and can't get up to the wall, we will put Teeny on the wall, and again let Nature take its course from there.

The reason we brought Teeny back last night was based on watching Teeny's behaviour before the flight. Teeny was just trying to get to the family, rather than deciding that it wanted to explore the surroundings, and learn to fly. As you will see from the pictures we will post of Teeny now, Teeny is still quite small in comparision, and has done a lot less wing flapping and balcony hopping than the others. Fingers crossed that Teeny waits a few days before attempting it again.

We didn't see Indie before retiring this evening, but we are sure Indie is well and learning to hunt with Pappa.