2011 New Year Greeting

Happy New Year and all the best for 2011!

We're finally back in the office after a good break for the holidays. It feels tiring getting through the first day back at work after a break, but one soons get back into the swing of things.

I've been receiving emails from overseas followers of PPO asking if we have seen the owls over the festive season. Late Christmas Eve, I received a distressing phone call from a concerned neighbour. Someone had found an injured owl chick just outside our complex, and rushed the chick off to FreeMe Wildlife Rehab Centre (where Teeny went). The chick was just admitted in before 5pm close.

We tried phoning on Christmas Day to find out more, but got no answer. Eventually we came right the following day, only to be told that the chick was so badly injured that it had to be put down.

I was heart broken at hearing that news! Worse still, we hadn't seen our owl family for a few days so didn't know where any of them were.

A few days went by with both Allan and I moping around the house during the day, and at nightfall, going outside to look for the owls. Finally, the day before New Year, we heard Pappa hooting and Pot Plant Owl replying. We rushed out the house and saw the two parents sitting on a rooftop in the distance. No sooner had we spotted them, we saw not one, not two, but three chicks fly in and land on the roof with their parents. OUR FAMILY HAD SURVIVED!

While it is still very sad to learn about the death of the other chick, I am incredibly relieved that it was not one of 'our' chicks. Since that evening, we have not seen the owl family again, although I'm sure they are fine.

As I write this entry, our resident Crested Barbet is sitting in the owl nest. He has taken to visiting the nest frequently and appears to be scratching in and around the nest. Who knows! Perhaps we will welcome a Crested Barbet family here soon.

All the best!