The barn owl nestling is alert as the pigeons are close| Barn Owl Israel Cam 4|תנשמות|1.8.21

This pair laid 6 eggs, 5 of which hatched. Out of the 53 pairs we monitored this year, this pair is the latest laying pair (laid eggs on May 2nd) in the Hula Valley we monitored. In comparison, the earliest laying pair did so on February 20th. Typically, later laying pairs succeed less than earlier laying pair so there is a chance that not of all of the 4 remaining nestling will survive.
Date of 1st nestlings hatching תאריך הבקיעה
8.6.21

In response to suggestions which have been occasionally posted in the chat box, we would like to clarify that at the Charter Group of Wildlife Ecology, we use nest boxes (including this one) large enough to fledge very large broods - the largest successfully raised brood consisted of 11 barn owl fledglings. This particular box saw 7 nestlings fledge only last year. A very good test to see if a nest box is appropriate is to observe whether the parents return to it having raised a brood. Over the last 17 years, we have recorded thousands of such cases. The evidence we have compiled over years of practice does not justify suggestions that the nest boxes we use are either too large or too small. Instead, it demonstrates clearly that the productivity of a nest box correlates strongly with the availability of food in its neighborhood. This can be seen with other CAMs that have large boxes but with less successfully barn owl pairs (i.e. 3-4 nestlings only).

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