Little Owls 2025

A new chapter of 'my' Little Owl story started on the 24th of December 2024 when I found a beautiful Little Owl nest box under the Christmas tree. On the 10th of January 2025 this nest box was placed in a birch tree in the back yard (with a camera in it) and in the evening of 13th January we had the first visitor in it....a male Little Owl...a few days later the female visited the nest box too. They both became regular visitors.

In February/March they visited the nest box every night and sometimes at day to rest. Early April I noticed that the female was sitting under the camera exactly in the blind spot so I could not see if she had layed eggs. On the 7th of April I noticed the first egg and a few days later I counted three eggs. On the 3rd May I heard the first sound of a hatched chick. ​Long story short, five chicks hatched but after two weeks the youngest chick died/disappered during the night.

It's amazing to learn that they both were only one year old and that they raised 4 chicks! 

Dad

As mother Little Owl was sitting in front of the camera we could not see everything. On the 27th of May the chicks got ringed and I learned that Dad & Mum were both young owls, ringed in 2024 only a few kilometers away. ​

The 4th of June was the last time I saw them all together in front of the nest box. After that night the first chick left the nest box and the following days they were all leaving but still hanging around in the neighbourhood. One week later I saw mum with three young owls on my roof which gave me hope that they had survived the first week in which they could not fly. I do not remember the exact day but suddenly it was quiet around the nest box and for month no owl came to visit the box; time enough to clean the inside and to change the camera position a little bit.
Now that spring is in the air, I hope that they will breed again; during the breeding season dad is less shy and easier to spot; I feel privileged to have dinner on my terrace and to see a little owl sitting in my yard.