Darwin

Barn Owl

Despite his spritely flying style (and attitude) Darwin is actually a geriatric barn owl. At 13 years old,  he has far surpassed any expectations we had and most definitely, the typical lifespan of a barn owl which is only around 2-3 years old in the wild.

Part Boomerang – Part Barn Owl, Darwin is a vital member of our team and he is the most personable little gent in the world. For such a small species, he is filled to the brim with personality, quirks, smarts, and so much more. 

Barn Owls

One of the most wide spread species of bird in the world, the Barn Owl can be found on nearly every continitent! With the exception of Antartica, where it is far too cold for barn owls, they can be found all over and in a range of habitats. Over here in the UK we’re awfully creative and having found them most often in barns, we coined them the barn owl. However, in many other countries in the world, they are often called by different names! Some of which include:
The Ghost Owl, Steeple Owl, Monkey-Faced Owl, and many more!  

Now, there is a reason we typically found them in barns and steeples and otherwhich man-made structures and that’s because, despite being native here to the UK, Barn Owls do not typically fare very well in our temperatures. Those stunning, soft, delicate feathers covering their body are not that dense and do not provide very much insulation to a barn owls’ small frame. as such, Barn Owls take to man-made structures where it if often warmer and well insulated as well as a much needed respite from the british weather seeing as they’re not very waterproof either… 

Fun Facts About Barn Owls

How Your Adoption Helps

Every little helps when it comes to caring for animals. Your adoption will help us feed, train, house, and care for our team as well as help toward routine veterinary visits!

10% of your donation will go toward a charity such as Vulpro, the Barn Owl Trust, and the Peregrine Fund in a show of support to their monumental efforts.

Arthur

European (Eurasian) Eagle owl

Arthur is a heart-throb and everyone that meets him falls head over heels for him, and I must admit, he’s a very gorgeous bird. Arthur’s often known for his rather suave attitude and takes most things in his stride. Although, should he go off to self-hunt, if he is unsuccessful, he will often come back in a strop. 

European (Eurasian) Eagle Owls

One of the largest species of owls in the world, the males can weigh anywhere from 2.6lbs (1.1kg) to 7.1lbs (3.2kg) and the females from 3.9lbs (1.7kg) to 10.1lbs (4.5kg). 

The Eurasian Eagle Owl is one of the most widely distributed of all owl species and can found found in: France, Spain, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, Greece, Bulgaria, Russia, Central Asia, Kazakhstan, Afganistan, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, Mongolia, China, Korea, Japan, and More!

An adaptive species, Eurasian Eagle Owls will take to a vast range of habitats. They have been found in habitats as diverse as northern coniferous forests to the edge of vast deserts. Essentially, Eurasian eagle-owls have been found living in almost every climatic and environmental condition on the Eurasian continent, excluding the greatest extremities, i.e. they are absent from humid rainforest in Southeast Asia, and the high Arctic tundra, both of which they are more or less replaced by other species of Bubo owls. 

Healthy Adults have no natural predators and as such, are considered an apex predator. 

The male selects breeding sites and advertises their potential to the female by flying to them and kneading out a small depression (if soil is present) and making staccato notes and clucking noises. Several potential sites may be presented, with the female selecting one. Like all owls, Eurasian eagle-owls do not build nests or add material but nest on the surface or material already present. The response of Eurasian eagle-owls to humans approaching at the nest is quite variable. The species is often rather less aggressive than some other owls, including related species like the spot-bellied eagle-, great horned and snowy owls, many of the northern Strix species, and even some rather smaller owl species, which often fearlessly attack any person found to be nearing their nests. Occasionally, if a person climbs to an active nest, the adult female eagle-owl will do a distraction display, in which they feign an injury. This is an uncommon behavior in most owls and is most often associated with small birds trying to falsely draw the attention of potential predators away from their offspring. More commonly, the adults withdraw to a safe distance, as their nests are usually well-camouflaged.

Fun Facts About European (Eurasian) Eagle Owls

How Your Adoption Helps

Every little helps when it comes to caring for animals. Your adoption will help us feed, train, house, and care for our team as well as help toward routine veterinary visits!

10% of your donation will go toward a charity such as Vulpro, the Barn Owl Trust, and the Peregrine Fund in a show of support to their monumental efforts.

He LOVES a bath and will sit on the edge of his bath doing an excited little dance as he waits for it to be refilled, although he often gets too impatient and will hop in whilst the hose is still in there.

On the flip side, he HATES the ride-on lawn mower that the gardeners use and will vacate the area and return to one of the A-frames where he will remain until we find him.

Bald eagles are not bald; the name derives from an older meaning of the word, “white-headed”. The adult is mainly brown with a white head and tail. The sexes are identical in plumage, but females are about 25% larger than males. The yellow beak is large and hooked. The plumage of the immature is brown.

In the late 20th century, the Bald Eagle was on the brink of extinction in the United States due to factors such as persecution and poisoning. In 1930 a New York City ornithologist wrote that in the territory of Alaska in the previous 12 years, approximately 70,000 bald eagles had been shot. Many of the hunters killed the bald eagles under the long-held beliefs that bald eagles grabbed young lambs and even children with their talons, yet the birds were innocent of most of these alleged acts of predation. The Bald Eagle has since recovered their numbers staggeringly with significant changes in law allowing them to do so. The use of DDT was banned and The Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, approved  in 1940, protected the bald eagle and the golden eagle, prohibiting commercial trapping and killing of the birds as well as collecting their eggs.

Bald Eagles are proficient hunters and their diet primarily consists of fish, birds, and other mammals. However, juvenile eagles will happily and eagerly scavenge, and have been known to scavenge prey as large as whales but more often than not, will steal prey from other animals. Bald Eagles have also been known to hunt cooperatively, with one bird distracting the prey whilst the other sneaks behind to ambush them.

Bald Eagles have high mate fidelity and will typically mate for life. However, should one of the pair perish the survivor will choose a new mate. A pair that repeatedly fails at breeding will split and look for new mates.

Bald eagle courtship involves elaborate, spectacular calls and flight displays by the males. The flight includes swoops, chases, and cartwheels, in which they fly high, lock talons, and free-fall, separating just before hitting the ground

Every little helps when it comes to caring for animals. Your adoption will help us feed, train, house, and care for our team as well as help toward routine veterinary visits!

10% of your donation will go toward a charity such as Vulpro, the Barn Owl Trust, and the Peregrine Fund in a show of support to their monumental efforts.

Moet

Chilean Blue Eagle

Moet is one of the two Chilean Blue Eagles here at the Hawking Centre and my word, what a bird he is. If you have ever had the pleasure to watch Moet fly, you’ll know what we’re talking about! Most days of the week, Moet can be seen soaring over the manor or ducking and diving at the wildlife on the grounds. 

Often too smart for his own good, Moet loves nothing more than giving his handlers a run for their money!

Chilean Blue Eagles

Although a timid species, they will fiercly defend their territory and young. The black-chested buzzard-eagle is found in mountainous or hilly terrain with sparse vegetation, shrubland, or (in the south of its range) nothofagus forest, where it spends a lot of time  soaring in thermals and vertical drafts while looking for prey. You can very often see Moet doing the exact same on our experience days. It’s a sight to behold. 

Chilean Blue Eagles are helpful to farmers as they hunt a large number of Europeans Rabbits which are pests to the farmers and can have a devastating effect on crops if their numbers are left unchecked. Alongside European Rabbits, Chilean blue Eagles will take a vast range of prey including:
Degus, Viscachas, Skunks, Gray Foxes, burrowing owls, Buff-necked Ibis’, and much more  occasionally carrion. They have also been known to compete for Carrion with the much larger andean condor. 

The Chilean Blue Eagle has two known sub-species. The Eastern Black Chested Buzzard-Eagle and the Western Black Chested Buzzard-Eagle. The two are somewhat easily identifiable as the Eastern sub-species is larger and is plain white belly whereas the Western is smaller and has a white belly with fine grey barring.

Fun Facts About Chilean Blue Eagles

How Your Adoption Helps

Every little helps when it comes to caring for animals. Your adoption will help us feed, train, house, and care for our team as well as help toward routine veterinary visits!

10% of your donation will go toward a charity such as Vulpro, the Barn Owl Trust, and the Peregrine Fund in a show of support to their monumental efforts.