Bateleur College recently had the privilege of welcoming two new spotted eagle owlets to the world.
Upon arriving at the school, Randburg Sun received a warm welcome from Claudia Pike, the secretary. She told the tale of how the two owlets came into the world.
During August they noticed a grown spotted eagle owl creating her nest in one of their trees.
When they went to investigate, they discovered three eggs inside. That’s when they realised that they needed to demarcate the area, afraid that their youngsters and staff could possibly disturb the mother with her nest.
The demarcation happened during September, resulting in quite a few speculations on what was actually happening at ‘this’ tree.
They came up with different stories to tell the youngsters.
Pike said, “We had to tell the children that we are busy with a project, just to keep them at bay.”
Eventually, they caught on, after seeing the mother on one of the branches nearby, which attracted the little ones.
Two of the eggs hatched around October – the third did not.
Pike said that if she had to guess, she’d say that they are around one month old. They shift from tree to tree, never staying in one place for too long.
Sometimes they even pop up behind some of the lawn statues and enjoy loafing around the playground with the youngsters.
The two little owls have been named Oliver and Jonathan L and teachers and learners have enjoyed watching them grow every week.
Pike said that she is thrilled to have them there and she strongly believes that the parents of the three owls will come back and breed again.
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