ZooBorns

Meet Burrowing Owlets Linford and Christie

News from the UK's Longleat Safari & Adventure Park: A pair of tiny hand-reared baby Burrowing Owls have taken to using teacups to roost in during the day. The owlets, nicknamed Linford and Christie (as they were hatched in the year of the London Olympics), are being cared for by keeper Jimmy Robinson. 

They hatched at the Hawk Conservancy Trust in Andover six weeks ago in February in an incubator and have had to be hand reared now. “Basically I have had to have them with me 24 hours a day every day and that means taking them home with me in the evening and getting up in the middle of the night to feed them,” Jimmy said, adding, “I spend so much time with them they do look at me as their surrogate mom and will follow me around the house or sit on my shoulder. They also enjoy the security of sitting inside their teacups and like to find small spaces on my bookshelf and in between my DVD collection to snuggle up into."

Found throughout the Americas, the burrowing owl is so named because itlives in underground burrows that have been dug out by small mammals such asprairie dogs and ground squirrels. Unlike most owls they are active during the day.

Photo Credit: Longleat Safari & Adventure Park

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Single Snowy Owlet Hatched at Woodland Park Zoo

Snow is in the forecast at Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, WA, with the hatching of a Snowy Owl chick on June 13!  The chick marks the first offspring between the mom, estimated to be 22 years old, and the father, 14 years old. It's gender has not been determined.

“At this time the chick isn’t visible to visitors because the mom is sitting on the nest and providing very good care,” curator Jennifer Pramuk said in a statement from the Zoo. “Our expert zookeepers are monitoring the owlet, which appears to be in good health. It’s growing very quickly, so visitors should be able to spot it in a week or two.” 

Photo Credit: James Scott

In zoos, the Snowy Owl population experienced a dramatic decline due to West Nile virus, which is spread by infected mosquitoes to birds. Owls and hawks were especially susceptible to the virus, causing acute death. Few zoos have been successful in breeding Snowy Owls within recent years. 

Meet Caspian, the Eurasian Eagle Owl

The CIncinnati Zoo welcomed a Eurasian Eagle owl chick four weeks ago. Named Caspian, the young Owl could grow to have a wingspan on six feet from tip to tip! Wild Eurasian Eagle Owls are found across Europe, Asia and even in parts of Northern Africa. Their diet consists largely of small mammals, but full grown Eagle owls can prey on larger animals like foxes, and young deer. The Eurasian Eagle Owl (Bubo bubo) is one of the largest owl species in the world.

Photo credits: Connie Lemperle

Baby Owls Grow Better in Groups

Thirteen is turning out to be a lucky number for a group of baby Owls at The Fund for Animals Wildlife Center in Ramona, Calif. Since wild Owls are always raised in groups, having 13 babies together at the center ensures that they have plenty of company while they grow strong enough to be returned to the wild.

Spring always brings an influx of baby critters at the Wildlife Center. The baby Owls’ story is a familiar one: they were brought to the center after they fell from their nests. It is usually best to leave babies on the ground and watch to see if their parents are standing guard nearby. But sometimes well-intentioned people pick the babies up thinking they are in distress, and then they bring them to rescue and rehabilitation groups like the Wildlife Center. In some cases, it is clear that the birds need to be relocated for their own safety; one of the baby Owls at the Wildlife Center came from a nest located in a busy shopping plaza.

“These are perfectly healthy babies that were just in unfortunate circumstances,” says Wildlife Center Director Ali Crumpacker. The crowd of fluffy baby great Horned Owls and Barn Owls all enthusiastically eat a steady diet of specially prepared food at the Wildlife Center. But in the wild, great Horned Owls often prey on the smaller barn owls. That presented a brief dilemma for rehabilitation. “If the barn owls are constantly hearing great Horned Owls, they are constantly in a state of fear,”  Crumpacker said.

Crumpacker reached out to colleagues at a raptor rescue group in Lakeside, Calif. called Sky Hunters. Sky Hunters agreed to take the Barn Owls, and the Wildlife Center, in turn, agreed to take in some of Sky Hunters’ baby great Horned Owls for rehabilitation.

The center has also been raising a trio of baby Red-tailed Hawks (above). All the babies will likely stay at the Wildlife Center for about three months. They’ll grow their all-important wing feathers, then develop their flying muscles in an outdoor flight cage.

“We will make sure that they can maneuver properly,” Crumpacker says, “and then they will be released back into the wild where they belong.”

Photo credits: The Fund for Animals Wildlife Center

Checking in on Linton Zoo's Turkmenian Eagle Owlets

Linton Zoo’s Turkmenian Eagle Owlets are growing up fast. Igor, Yelena and Misha the Turkmenian Eagle Owlets weighed just 50g at hatching, they are now tipping the scales at over 1200g each, quite a difference in just 4 weeks! These 3 bundles of fluff hatched in mid March but were rejected by their inexperienced mother and so were removed for hand-rearing.

Photo credits: Linton Zoo

Linton Zoo's Newest Hatchlings Are a Hoot!

The UK's Linton Zoo has hatched its first Easter chicks, three adorable Turkmenian Eagle Owlets. The fluffy trio weighing just 50 grams at hatching, hatched in mid March but were rejected by their inexperienced mother and so were removed for hand-rearing. They will rapidly grow, weighing in at around a kilo each by the time they are three weeks old. The Turkmenian Eagle Owl is one of the largest and most spectacular Owl in the world and is closely related to the large European Eagle Owl. Sadly though, it is believed to now be extinct in its original wild range around Turkmenistan, there are also very few in captivity so these three Easter chicks are very important individuals, although they may not realise it! Both parents of these special birds were also hatched at Linton and their dad “Pip” is 22 years old this year.

Photo credits: Linton Zoo

Meet Mom and see the hatchlings in their first moment below the fold...

Up Close and Personal with a Snowy Owl Chick

The Yorkshire Dales Falconry Centre is committed to educating the public about the need to protect wild birds of prey and promoting associated conservation efforts. These pictures of a snowy owl chick born at the center were taken earlier today by photographer Margaret Woodward. Snowy owl parents are well equipped for defending their babies. When a predator gets too close to the nest, both mother and father will dive-bomb the threat with their sharp talons extended.

O RLY?

Baby Bird Boom in Singapore's Jurong Bird Park

Bird lovers have something to rejoice over as Jurong Bird Park welcomed six chicks hatched over the last few months. The chicks are of six different species, four featured below, namely the Crown Pigeon, Golden Conure, Greater Flamingo and Malay Fish Owl.

Crown Pigeon (4 Months)


Golden Cunure (2 Months)


Greater Flamingo (2.5 Months)


Malay Fish Owl (1 Month)

Ripley... Believe It or Not!

The Taronga Zoo is helping Ripley the barking owl chick (the latest addition to its bird flight presentation) learn the ropes.  Acclimatization though new experiences is the name of the game for this 40 day old baby barking owl.

Learning to fly means taking occasional pit stops to check on the latest ZooBorns updates...

Here Ripley meets some new friends...

Ripley even rode the cable car to get a bird's eye view of his new digs...

Chester Zoo's Baby Boom

Bella, Chester Zoo's latest giraffe arrival, is seen here just yesterday with a doting Mom...

A lion tailed macaque mom and child snuggle up

One of the three new baby Bush Dogs born recently at Chester Zoo

A spectacled owl mother and baby...

Photo Credit: Crispin Swan