Every year, half of the population of barn owls in the Netherlands dies in traffic or due to other human causes. This fledgling became trapped in a house and starved to death.
Five hatchlings huddle for warmth, lying on an insulating blanket of dead vole remains. Their down layer has yet to grow and their mother will brood them until the youngest is about two weeks of age and has developed a down layer to keep itself warm.
A male barn owl lands on a beam carrying a freshly caught vole in its beak. His rapidly growing chicks need lots of food. At the peak, he may bring as much as sixteen prey items into the nest in a single night. Thiérache, France.
