 Even though
June helped out with the hunting last night, the ravenous owlets had eaten
it all by noon and were wheezing for more. June made frequent trips to the
doorway to call for more, but Ward did not respond. Two-week-old owlets
can easily get through a day without food and Ward appears to realize it.
June was not, however, eager enough to endure the hazards of daytime
hunting herself, and stayed in the nest all day. The owlets are
shown here as they bit and pushed each other in an attempt to establish
the best feeding position while June was up in the doorway.
Fortunately, owls have a special protective layer on their eyeballs that
shields them from injury in scuffles such as this. Without this protective
layer, most owlets would be blind before they even got out of the nest.
That's Penelope on the right, who seemed especially hungry and even
attempted to follow June up into the doorway on one occasion. I've never
seen an owlet do this at such a young age and am a bit concerned that she
might attempt to leave the nest too soon. Note that the pure white down
that had covered them since hatching is now being replaced by darker
feathers. |