Henry Teaches the Children
Henry Teaches the Children
From ARC
ARC is fortunate to have several surrogate birds, as not every ambassador at our center is interested in raising young.
Our barn owl, Henry, is a great surrogate father. He instinctively knows exactly what to do upon seeing and hearing baby barn owls. These three owlets came to us after their nest was destroyed during construction.
It's important to thoroughly inspect structures, as not all nests are obvious; barn owls don't build nests but instead raise their young inside cavities, which can range from tree hollows to inside the walls of barns and other structures.
Unable to be re-nested, the owlets are now learning the sounds and behaviors of their species from Henry. When it's feeding time, Henry approaches them, making low chittering sounds that capture the babies' attention.
Henry shows that even animals step up to protect younglings
Seeing how loving they can be has been one of my biggest surprises in learning about owls. For birds that typically do not like their own kind and even spend most of their time apart from their mate, the babies often really bring out the best in them.