Welcome to the family!

Ubizane has lately established a close partnership with CROW (Centre for Rehabilitation of Wildlife) and we have opened our arms to a warthog and two Spotted Eagle Owls to join our family.

CROW came to investigate the Ubizane premises to make sure it would be a happy safe environment for released animals and we were approved as a safe haven for wildlife! After much planning and organizing, CROW released two Spotted Eagle Owls at the end of November in our aviary. This is where we will nurture the two beautiful owls, like we nurtured our Barn Owls, until they’re big and strong and can be released into the wild.

      

It was an interesting day with the Spotted Eagle Owls almost being twice the size of the Barn Owls and we weren’t sure how the four owls would bond.  For the first day they stared at each other and did not know what to do. After the second night they started competing for the territory and we decided to divide the aviary in two to give the two species their own space.

We are happy to report that the owls are living happily in the aviary and we are waiting for the wonderful day we can release them successfully into the Fever Tree Forest of Ubizane.

            

We also had the pleasure of welcoming a female warthog into our family named Wendy.  This intriguing character was found in November 2012 after being abandoned by her mother in another game reserve, being only 1 ½ weeks old. CROW took her in and hand raised the little warthog with love and patience and asked us if we would release her at Ubizane.  After having a similar situation at Ubizane where we had our dear Tiban who we found as a baby, abandoned and almost drowned after heavy rains, we knew we could not say no.  Tiban was successfully released into the Ubizane bush in December 2012 and we are very proud of this wonderful story of a baby warthog fighting against all odds and surviving. We were excited to hear about Wendy and now the day has finally arrived! CROW released Wendy into an enclosure which is meant as Boma for her at Ubizane where she will get used to the environment and then eventually go into the bush and live a happy life back where she belongs. CROW, along with a camera crew who have been filming her rehabilitation process, released Wendy into Ubizane’s care.

 Wendy has a personality as no other with a love for bananas and mielies (corn cobs)!  She adores a good tummy scratch and enjoys being fed some luscious green grass by the hand so she can give you some loving while you feed her.

The warthog will be let out of the boma each day to graze and get to know the area and climate. She started to walk around on Saturday and slowly but surely she explores a little bit further each day before returning to her ‘safety zone’ in the boma. When she is ready we will let her roam freely into the bush where we’ll hope to see a very happy ending to this story!

The Spotted Eagle Owls will be a lengthier process as these Owls are still young and need more time to grow strong and comfortable in the area. They also need to still learn to hunt and excel their predator instincts which might take a lot more time than anticipated.

Thanks go to CROW for choosing Ubizane and letting us be a part of the conservation efforts. We are so happy to have these magnificent animals, Wendy the warthog and the two Spotted Eagle Owls joining the Ubizane family in their rehabilitation process! Welcome to the family!

For more information about CROW you can visit their website, http://crowkzn.co.za/

Keep updated with the latest news about Wendy and the Spotted Eagle Owls on our blog and our Facebook profile (https://www.facebook.com/ubizane.wildlifereserve)

Talons of Power

Our fascination with Barn Owls have been evident these past couple of weeks after our discovery of little Barn Owl chicks abandoned by their mother, in a Tree Lodge Room.  We have been hand-raising these magical creatures in an effort to keep them alive and rehabilitate them to become the self-sufficient birds of prey they ought to be.  One of our goals of keeping these birds around is for educational purposes. We want to educate people on the instincts and habits of these birds and why they are so valuable in eco-systems.  One of the many interesting things that we have noticed about these beautiful birds is their powerful talons (claws).

 The talons have an immense strength, and it is used to crush the skull of their prey.  We have definitively seen the evidence of this in our Barn Owls.  They grab the food out of our hands with their talons sometimes instead of their beaks.  Then they start bashing the food onto the ground continuously.  They stomp their feet and start hissing revealing their aggressive nature when there is food involved.

 They also use these talons to fight off enemies. When noticing a threat, they start stomping their feet and hiss to try and intimidate the enemy. They also stand up straight and ‘puff’ out their feathers to appear larger in size for intimidation purposes. It is a captivating process to witness. When finally eating their prey, they tear off chunks by clasping to the prey with their talons while the beak pulls and tears.  These pieces then gets swallowed whole because of their lack of teeth. The food is broken down by powerful stomach fluids.  They later regurgitate the indigestible pieces such as bone and fur in a similar way as a cat would get rid of ‘hair/fur balls’.

 It is interesting to know that prey is believed to be killed by mostly the bashing against the floor as well as suffocation from the strong clench of the talons rather than the peck of the beak.

 On your next visit to Ubizane, be sure to ask our Lodge Managers to view these magnificent birds!

Birds of a feather...

For those of you who followed our Barn Owls story, you might be dying to hear how they are doing.  Our little chicks are all grown-up and starting to gain the birds of prey instinct that we so diligently have tried to expose them to.  

We see this when they receive food.  Whenever we start feeding them they start hissing and stamping their feet aggressively.  This is a sign of dominance as they would usually take the mice that they catch and beat them on the ground with their claws until they die.  This is a very gruesome way of killing but we must remember that these are wild birds of prey which can become just as violently aggressive as a predator such as a lion.  They also swing their heads from side to side to try and intimidate those around.  It is a very interesting process to watch as they brutally attack their food without mercy.  And yet they do it so gracefully and beautiful that it’s hard to look away. 

They have become more beautiful by the day and now look like fully grown adult Barn Owls.  The only difference is that they are a little smaller in size than a fully grown owl.

 They have much fuller rounder faces now with that perfect heart shape

All their down has gone, now it’s only the beautiful brown, grey and white soft feathers that remain.

On your next visit to Ubizane, feel free to ask us about the progress of the owls!

A Month with Barn Owls

From ugly ducklings to beautiful swans, it’s been a month of caring for our little wise owls and they’re still going strong!  Our Barn Owl chicks have almost lost all their down (fluff) and are now covered with interesting brown, white and grey feathers with small black spotted detail.  It’s a wonderful sight as we’ve watched them grow over the last few weeks. We have been used to small fluffy birds that looked like cotton balls and now we have big strong birds of prey with striking feathers.  They have been catching mice with the help of traps set by the Ubizane team in an effort to teach them to deal with their prey as it would present itself in the wild.  It is always hard, as a human with no clue of what is going on in the mind of an animal, to rehabilitate and try teaching them how to become wild and follow their instincts. However we have seen these birds find their natural grounds as they show more and more of their natural instincts every day.  We are starting to recognise facial structures in the birds that make each one unique which makes the connection we feel towards these small, incredible creatures stronger and stronger every day.  It is an amazing transformation that has just reminded us of how wonderful wildlife really is and why it is so important to conserve it. 

The heart-shaped faces of our Barn Owls.

We had to place the owls on a cardboard service because their claws slide on the slippery table when we feed them.  

Barn Owls are different to normal owls not only with their heart-shaped face appearances but also because of the sounds they make.  Other owls make “hooting” sounds whereas Barn Owls only make a hissing or screeching noise.  During the time we have spent with them we have experienced these sounds first hand and realised that they have a peculiar way of intimidating their enemies.  They hiss at enemies while standing up straight and puffing their feathers to make their bodies appear bigger.  They then make circular movements with their heads.  It has been very interesting viewing these owls and we are looking forward to keep witnessing these magnificent birds of prey.

Barn Owl Update

Our Barn Owls are growing up very fast with feathers taking the place of their fluffy coats. It is an amazing transformation that people rarely get the chance to see.  We have been watching how these chicks become more and more self-efficient and shape into big Barn Owl adults. We are used to these owls species here at Ubizane as they regularly fly by during the night in between the Fever Trees.  They love making nests in these tall enchanting Fever Trees as well as in the thatch roofs of Tree Lodge.  Barn Owls have been the night companions of Tree Lodge staff members for a very long time and so it seems fitting that we rescued these little ones to bring them back to strength.  This morning we took some photo’s during our feeding session. 

The smallest one of the three still has a lot of feathers to grow but he’s getting there slowly.

The middle sized one looks odd with only a few fluffy patches on his head.

 Meet our oldest Barn Owl.  He is changing into an adult very fast with beautiful feathers almost covering his whole body now.

Keep checking our blog for the latest updates on the transformation of our beautiful Barn Owl chicks!

Latest on our Barn Owls

Our four Barn Owls found last Thursday, have been growing stronger and stronger every day.  We are excited to see that they are starting to transform into adults with feathers forming over parts of their wings and necks.  Watch them transform into beautiful graceful Barn Owl adults!

How they looked on Tuesday

Feeding time!

Starting to become bigger and stronger by the day

Beautiful feathers starting to come out

Barn Owl chicks rehabilitating at Ubizane

On Thursday morning the Ubizane team found four Barn Owl chicks in one of the Tree Lodge rooms.  Our first instinct was to search the area for signs of entry to ensure their mother hadn’t been entering and giving them food.  Unfortunately we realised that these chicks were placed there by their mother by entering in a gap that was closed a few days ago.  Sadly this meant that these poor chicks have been without food for almost three days!  Three of the chicks are about five weeks old with the smallest only about two weeks old.  We suspect there were two batches of eggs that hatched because of two empty eggs found in the nest and the varying sizes of the chicks.  The Ubizane team have decided to bring these chicks back to health until they are ready to survive in the wild.  We feed them raw meat every day to ensure they become stronger.

One of the older chicks and the baby chick being held by a staff member

 

Feeding raw mince to the smallest of the lot

Ubizane staff feeding the little ones

It is hard to believe that these fluffy little fragile creatures grow into the beautiful Barn Owl, one of the most gracious birds of prey.  We are excited to keep you posted on the progress!