Throughout the rest of July, I set up a photoshoot every morning and evening. Eventually, the owlets got used to me and their initial shyness waned. They remained calm and curious even as I climbed my ladder and snapped an insane number of photos, paparazzi-style. As each day passed, they spent more and more time sitting at the window half-asleep, day-dreaming of their first flight.
Steve and I became familiar with each of the owls so we named them. We called the oldest owlet, Flappy, because he was the most eager to fly, and spent the max time planning his first move at the window. And as we learned a little later, he practiced flapping his wings inside the tiny box to the dismay of his siblings (adult barn owls have a wingspan of up to 3 feet!).
The next in line we called Pally, because he was always cuddled up next to his best pal Flappy. He nuzzled his brother and later continued to live up to the name..(stay tuned!)
And the third one who we rarely saw because his big brothers hogged the view, we called Fluff (which we later changed to Squeaky because his fluffy adolescent feathers went away, but he sure was the squeakiest of the bunch).
Day by day, their baby fluff faded, their color turned golden and their faces rounded more into the classic barn-owl heart shape. We knew it would be any day now before their first flight, and we waited patiently. The owlets were eager to meet the world.
Please excuse the poor video quality. They became most active at dusk which made it most difficult to film in little daylight.
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