This is the time of year when the keepers get excited and report daily on the changes in behaviour of our owls. These changes are very useful clues in identifying which pairs of owls are beginning to breed and possible reasons why others might not.

Courtship behaviour may be seen: passing food from one to another, preening each others feathers and calling. Other signs are sitting in nest boxes; becoming aggressive towards the keepers when they become more territorial; losing their appetite – just like humans really. This year, we have experimented with different nest box designs in some of our aviaries and this has met with the approval of the African spotted eagle owls Bubo africanus, a young adult pair which came to the centre in 2007 from two valuable blood lines. The female is sitting tightly in the nest box and we are hopeful that her clutch of eggs is fertile.

This new breeding season seems to be starting earlier than usual and we are already off to a good start with some of our experienced pairs. First, as usual were the rare Haitian ashy-faced owls Tyto glaucops and two pairs are now sitting on eggs. They were soon followed by brown wood owls Strix leptogrammica, white-faced owls, Otus leucotis, tropical screech owls Otus choliba, Mackinder’s eagle owls Bubo capensis mackinderi and Chaco owls Strix chacoensis which are all experienced breeders. Bay owls Phodilus badius have raised young here on one occasion and milky eagle owls Bubo lacteus and brown fish owls Ketupa zeylonensis have only got as far as incubating infertile eggs. We are watching them in anticipation and with crossed fingers that their eggs are fertile this year!

Boobook owls, Ninox novaeseelandiae and northern hawk owls Surnia ulula are taking an interest in their nest boxes and should start nesting in a few days time.

Our female Ethiopian eagle owl Bubo capensis dilloni, paired with a male Mackinder’s eagle owl Bubo capensis mackinderi is sitting. Last year, she laid for the first time. Unfortunately her one fertile egg failed to hatch. Now she has had more experience and we hope for better results this season. We do not normally condone the breeding of hybrids but we think that Mackinder’s and Ethiopian eagle owls belong, in fact, to the same subspecies and we await results of the DNA tests which we initiated, to confirm this.

David Armitage

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The World Owl Trust is a member of the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA) and the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums (EAZA). The Trust relies on a dedicated membership, visitors, donations and legacies.