The famous, face down, feet out sleeping position. A bit easier to see in the main post pic.
Comment on their development in feeding themselves. I saw Mrs Owl feeding both today, but it seems they should start doing it more on their own very soon.
Good evening, Ashton!! GHO owlets start to learn how to “self feed”, meaning grabbing on to the prey with their feet/talons, and shredding it, approx between 21 - 27 days old. HH5 is 22 days old and HH6 is 19 days old, and should in next week be able to start to “self feed”. If Dad or Mom pass a rodent directly to their beaks and it stays in, then they can swallow it. If there is prey already opened up with meat showing, they have just started to be able to “self feed” that way, by taking bites. Bayley has probably left the rodent there for them to try and figure out how to do it, and they won’t even try until they start to get hungry enough to try. This is how it is in all raptor nests when the parents leave the prey just laying there. Of course Bayley will still feed them, but she knows that they are now coming into that age now.
Timeline of when they will start to venture out of the nest:
The fledges will be approx 45 - 49 DAYS/March 21 - 25th, or approx 7 weeks. They still will be right around there and in their parents territory until FALL/WINTER. Bayley and Joshua will supplement feed them as they hone in on their hunting skills. At any time after “branching”, they could even “FLUDGE” where they “accidently fledged”. So it could be between 5 - 7 weeks that they are out of the nest tree. They are EXCELLENT climbers, though, and will be able to climb trees/bushes to hide, and where their parents will feed them wherever they are.
Bayley looks tired, lol.
It seems like having a combo of the fun of a newborn and a tween at the same time!
She’s getting more time to herself to leave the nest at least. Over the next few weeks, the parents will spend less and less time with them to get them used to owling on their own.
I was surprised by the one blurb of facts that said mom and dad will still help them out this coming winter. That’s much more generous than I expected, given then don’t even hang around each other during the rest of the year very much. Kinda thought they’d usher them off to find their own turf sooner, but that is nice they still help them through the first tough season on their own.