After the departure of the young owls in October 2020, the nest box was completely cleaned. It did not remain empty for long as nocturnal visits were observed as early as December. A single owl at first.

The intensity of visits increased at the end of December. Courtship displays or rather territorial disputes between 2 males? This video shows the violence. (25/12)

The pair seems to be formed. The two owls are regularly present at the nest, especially during the days to sleep there. In this color photo, we can distinguish the female on the left with her mottled russet belly and leg ring. The male on the right is smaller and whiter, with fewer spots on his belly.

At first, the female doesn't seem to accept the male's approaches, so the mating attempts become acrobatic and fun to watch! From February 16th, the owls started to mate regularly in front of our cameras. The couple's habits also settle down: the male goes hunting while the female stays in the nest box.

This is the novelty of the year: a high quality video perched camera, waterproof, programmable, motorized, with an external microphone and a powerful x20 optical zoom (10 mm to 1500 mm). It is fixed in a tree in front of the entrance to the owl nest box. It is aimed at owls at night and at hawks during the day. To learn more about this connected bird house and the technical installation, go behind the scenes by clicking the button below.

On January 23, a ringed owl arrived in our nest box. The ring could be identified thanks to the new outdoor camera and its powerful zoom. We now know that this female was born in 2020 in a nest box in Roth, Middle Franconia in Bavaria (Germany), 263 km as the crow flies from Théding. We named her Jeanne: "J" is the 1st letter of her ring and for history's sake, Jeanne of Bavaria was Queen of Germany and Queen of Bohemia. The male (not banded) is called Charly: "C" is the 2nd letter of the bitch's ring. Complete ring number: JC80223

March 12, strong wind in Théding, the male went hunting and during this time the female was curious and exposed to the wind. It's beautiful!

On March 15th around 6pm the 1st egg arrived. This is a first for this young female, born in 2020, and she is getting to know her egg and hatching it, as you can see in this video.

An egg appears every 2 to 3 days. Reminder of laying dates: 1st egg: 15/03 6 p.m. | 2nd egg: 03/18 2h | 3rd egg: 03/20 11 a.m. | 4th egg: 03/22 7 p.m. | 5th egg: 03/25 12 p.m. | 6th egg: 03/27 11 p.m.

While the female was grooming, something strange happened: did a feather get stuck in her beak? Or did she lock her neck? It seems that a dead prey got stuck in her plumage. Fortunately, everything is back to normal and the incubation continues. (03/27)

Un mulot encore vivant a été apporté par le mâle, déposé à côté de la femelle, il a tenté de s'enfuir, mais la femelle l'a rattrapé (31/03)

Kestrels nest within 10 meters of owls. The frightened male likes to put himself on the pole of the neighbors' camera. (08/04)

On April 17 in the morning, the 1st little owl arrived, the mother helped him out of his shell. A mouse was left in reserve for its first meal.

This time it was the hawks that went to the owls. But the frightened female didn't like it, so she got out of the nest box to chase them away. She returned a few minutes later to continue incubating. (04/19)

This video is funny: the male arrives at the nest box with prey while the female is absent. It looks like he doesn't know what to do! Luckily the female quickly returns and everything is back to normal. (25/04)

Already balls of rejection for these little owls. The oldest is 10 days old. (27/04)

The 6 eggs hatched with 2-3 day intervals each, here are the dates of birth: 1st: 17/04 (10:45 am) | 2nd: 18/04 (7:30 a.m.) | 3rd: 20/04 (12h) | 4th: 23/04 (6h) | 5th: 04/25 (12:30 p.m.) | 6th: 27/04 (7h)

This is not the first time this has happened this year. Live prey (probably a vole) wanders into the nest box. After a short observation the female jumps on it to prevent it from escaping... (27/04)

When the weather is good, the male brings plenty of prey to the nest box. Enough to last until the following night. (29-30/04)

This video just to show a nice moment of the Effraie family with a shared meal. (04/29)

A male kestrel, probably the neighbor, decided to visit the owl family at dawn on May 13th. Fortunately, he'll just stay on the owls' roost. For their part, the frightened mother and her young try to scare the kestrel away by making rather frightening noises!

Thanks to the motorized cameras that equip the Barn Owl Nest Box, there are no blind spots! Even when the young decide to settle in one of the corners of the nest. (13/05)

Too bad, the youngest died on the morning of May 20. Probably the female stopped crushing the prey too early. The day before, the young owl was still energetic and tried several times to swallow prey brought by the parents, but to no avail. The remaining 5 young owls are doing well and are able to swallow food on their own.

Even in rainy weather, you have to hunt all night to feed your brood. Here, the female looking at the horizons of the nesting box. (26/05)

On the night of June 13 to 14, the first young owl flew away. She is 57 days old. She will return to the nest box to sleep at the end of the night.

The first litter is not over, but the parents seem to want to start a second one. Since their young cannot fly, the parents have to find another place, so in the night from June 14th to 15th, 2021, the 2 owls attacked the kestrel family. 4 sufficiently large hawks managed to escape, but the last hawk, too young to fly, was killed during the attack. The next morning, the kestrel couple tried to regain control over their nesting box, in vain, the couple is present and seems to want to install its second brood there.

A few days later, the barn owls will leave this nest box to return to the original one, which is more suited to their needs.

To discover the full story of the 2021 kestrels, click on the button below "find out more".

Two young owls, barely out of the nest, have decided to spend the day not in the nest box, but right next to it, in the niche that houses the camera that films the sky. But it's a bit cramped, so one of the young ones decides to return to the nest box during the day, enough to make a nice color video. (21/06)

The male arrives with a prey which he gives to the female. Very delicately, she passed it from beak to paw and vice versa, before going to give it to the youngsters. (25/06)

The female seems to really want to be quiet in her nest box, probably to start a new brood. She will push the young of the first litter towards the exit. They are all able to fly on their own now, but the male will probably continue to feed them. (05/07)

The male again spends his days in the nest box. Which gives comical scenes: couplings under the gaze of a youngster from the first brood still present in the nest. (06/07)

A new egg was laid on July 7, it is the beginning of a second brood.

Come on, it's easier to come and help yourself from your parents' pantry than to fend for yourself! (10/07)

7 eggs to store in order to hatch everyone, it's sporty! (23/07)

This 8th clutch deserves a short video, we can clearly see the thrusts of the female. Moreover, when she gets up, the egg remains stuck in her plumage! (23/07)

Reminder of laying dates:
1st egg: 07/07 3 p.m. | 2nd egg: 09/07 5 p.m. | 3rd egg: 11/07 9 p.m. | 4th egg: 14/07 4 p.m. | 5th egg: 07/16 3:30 p.m. | 6th egg: 07/19 00h | 7th egg: 21/07 1:30 pm | 8th egg: 07/23 9 p.m. | 9th egg: 07/26 9am | 10th egg: 07/29 2am

The first of 10 chicks began to pierce its egg on August 07 around 2 a.m. He is totally rid of his shell at 9am. (07/08)

Since the beginning of the season, the camera had not been cleaned, it is done today. And you can see the difference! (14/08)

A color photo, allowed during the intervention at the nest box to clean the camera (08/14)

Little video summary of the second to the last birth of this second litter.
Here are the hatching dates: 1st baby: 07/08 9am | 2nd child: 09/08 10 p.m. | 3rd child: 10/08 10:30 a.m. | 4th child: 13/08 11 p.m. | 5th baby: 16/08 11am | 6th egg: unhatched | 7th child: 08/21 11:30 p.m. | 8th to 10th unhatched eggs (stop brooding on August 22).

Unfortunately, the 6th little owl did not survive. Too far away from the others, it was not fed enough. Weak, one of the elders took the opportunity to swallow it on August 28th.

On the evening of August 29, 2021, the last and 5th little owl of Théding (in the middle of the photo), 13 days old, was removed from the nest box. In fact, the mother has stopped tearing the prey too early, she can no longer eat, her death is therefore certain. We have the opportunity to take her out of the nest box to give her a boost before reintroducing her to her family in a few days. (29/08)

Life continues in the nest box with the remaining 4 little ones. And you can see how you have to fight to eat! (29/08)

When the belly is full, sleep comes quickly: watch out for falls! (29/08)

On the evening of September 7th, after 9 days of being fed by humans, the last little owl returns to the nest box. In fact, she is now able to swallow whole prey, an essential skill for her survival at this stage. We will carefully monitor that her return goes well and that she manages to find a place to be fed. If things go wrong, she can be removed from the nest box.

The reintroduction of the human-fed owl to rescue her was a success. In fact, after a few hours in the nest box, she picked up the rhythm of the rest of the brood. A few days later, she is even at the top of the list to receive deliveries. But the floor slipped and the fall happened! Fortunately without consequences, we put him back in his nest box and then the routine resumed. (20/09)

Both parents do their best to bring prey to the young, and sometimes they arrive at the nest box at the same time, resulting in a "double delivery". (20/09)

From time to time, you have to practice hunting, and what better way to do it than with a prey! (24/09)

Kisses between them and kisses also for the camera! (26/09)

Food is scarce at the end of the season. You have to fight to eat, here is the proof in this video. (27/09)

The lack of food resulted in the death of the youngest on October 5th. Unless it's one of several falls from the nest box that she has suffered.

On October 07, we discover on camera that the ringed mother has an eye problem (tick? loss of eye?) and unfortunately this will be the last night we see this female...

The older owls are starting to come out of the nest, and we are treated to nice scenes like this one, with a beautiful sunset. (09/10)

Again, we can see 3 owls using the attachment of the outdoor camera #2 to perch there! (22/10)

The youngest make the pleasure last by coming back to see us again and again at the nest box, for the night or for the day. The last will leave the nest box for good on November 13th.