Pecking Order.

Before work commenced this morning I had a quick check on the Barn Owl nest cam, after five minutes of viewing no eggs could be seen so I can now only assume that all seven of them have hatched?  Because of the low image quality it is difficult to count exactly how many chicks there are in that moving fir ball, I can count at least 5, how about you?

The male owl had another good nights hunting as at least 4 prey items can be seen scattered about on the floor. The hen owl spends many hours ripping them apart into small morsels and feeds them to her brood. It is now a critical time for the youngest/smallest chicks, they are definitely last in line when it comes to being fed. If they can get enough food and grow fast enough hopefully they will avoid being eaten by their bigger siblings and their chances of survival will be greatly increased.