From Killeen Daily Herald
A baby owl has been named “Bob the Builder” - after it was hand-reared to avoid noisy building work.
The American Barn Owl was born at the Scottish Owl Centre but damage to the sanctuary’s buildings during storms meant keepers needed to organize repairs.
Scared that the noise would stress the owlet’s new parents’ keeper Trystan decided to hand-rear the baby owl.
He has been named Bob - both after the famous cartoon builder and as a nod to the name he was first referred to by - “Barn Owl Baby.”
Now just weeks away from learning to fly Bob, who has been described as "inquisitive and curious’ and pictured investigating a hard hat and set of tools.
Trystan said: "The reason we decided to hand-rear him was because we’re having some major work done on our flying arena, and all of the extra noise behind the aviary was really upsetting the parents.
"The reason we had to have the work done was that the flying arena in our center was damaged by Storm Eowyn.
"A big chunk of the roof was blown away in the 90-mile winds, so we’ve had to have the whole roof replaced - and that’s what’s caused the disruption.
"Thankfully, the work to repair the roof is going well, and we’ll hopefully have the flying arena back in operation by the Easter Holidays.
"In the wild, if the parents get frightened away from the nest, they might never come back and look after their babies - and the same thing can happen in captivity, unfortunately.
"We decided, rather than hope that that didn’t happen, we’d remove the baby and make sure it’s safe.
"His name kind of happened by accident - B.O.B. stands for barn owl baby, and it also fit in with the builders as well, after Bob the Builder!
“We thought it would be great to get some pictures with the builder’s hard hat and the tools, to commemorate the occasion.”
Bob currently lives with Trystan, who feeds the owlet three times per day - once in the morning, once in the evening, and once before bed.
“Like all baby animals, they spend a lot of time eating, a lot of time sleeping, and a lot of time pooping,” said Trystan.
“At the moment, I look after him at home, and I do three feeds a day. It means I can still get a good night’s sleep - and so can the baby owl.”
In around four weeks, Bob will begin learning how to fly, and will need to be moved to an aviary. At 12 weeks, Bob will be a fully grown owl - and Trystan believes he’ll be a joy to work with.
“He’s a very sweet baby owl,” he said.
"He’s very inquisitive and I think he’s taken this change of life very well.
"I think he’ll be a very nice bird to work with wherever he goes - he’s very curious and inquisitive about the world.
"He’s just about able to stand up and walk a little bit - and he does like to dance on the spot!
“I’ve never seen a baby owl stand up and dance quite as much as he does.”
While Bob may not stay at the Scottish Owl Centre forever, the staff are confident they will find a good home for Bob where he can thrive.
"Bob is about a month old just now, so he’s still got some way to go.
"By the time they’re eight weeks old, they can start to learn to fly, so that’s when Bob will need to be in an aviary.
“I don’t know that it’ll be an aviary here - but we can find a good home for him.”
That look! I just want to scoop Bob up and cuddle him!
Me too! He looks damp here and I want to make sure he’s warm! 🥰
Just fyi, my life is brighter because of your happy posts that ooze kindness. Thank you so much!
It’s always my pleasure. I usually browse by All, and even with some keyword filters, the top posts are filled with plenty of bad news.
It’s important stuff, to be sure, but I wish more stuff like what I do would be mixed in there too give people a break. There is still a lot of good in the world too.
Tomorrow I get to nurse baby squirrels at my first day of volunteering and I’m so excited! Not sure if I’ll be allowed to get pics or not, but if I do, I’ll be sure to share!
the top posts are filled with plenty of bad news.
It’s important stuff, to be sure, but I wish more stuff like what I do would be mixed in there too give people a break. There is still a lot of good in the world too.
I browse by “all” too, and you are so right. I’m glad people are posting happy things too, I really like animal posts mostly. My fur baby gets excited when I put on animal videos, too, like there isn’t enough rl friends outside - when he resists chasing!
I look forward to any squirrel babies you post. You’d love it here. Squirrel parents brought forth a bumper crop this year. Wish I’d see some honeybees though.
I’ve been hearing it’s a terrible year for bees. I haven’t seen one yet. I’m a fan of the bee butts and it always makes me happy to see them out pollinating.
My friend in Switzerland bought a professional camera last year and periodically sends me some of his more interesting photos, which usually includes bees and various bugs (ants milking aphids were particularly interesting). He recently sent a zoom shot of a honeybee on a bluebell with so much pollen collected, it looked like they were wearing blue floaties on their back legs.
I’ve seen some bumblebees and red wasps but no honeybees. It’s worrisome, but the local grocer is still stocking honey from several towns away at a reasonable price, and while I’m sure those are kept bees I hope that means some will return here.
Do they actually know the owlet is a he?
Sorry for the delay, but I needed to do some research.
Determining sex of adults is fairly straightforward. There is a good bit of color and size variation that lets you get a surprisingly high accuracy.
That link also has some photos of ones that are around 30 days old, still covered in down, but already showing adult traits to get a likely sex determination.
I couldn’t find anything owl specific in really young birds, so I did post a comment on their page to see if they reply. If they get back to me, I will let you know, as I am curious too.
They claim to be the largest owl center in the world, so if anyone would have a way, I’d say they might be the ones.
