The Uhu-Story

The move in ...

...There was once a house fire in Dannenberg's old town. An accident.
It was fortunate that no one was dramatically injured.
It was also lucky that two eagle owls chose the roof truss of the burnt ruins as their nesting place.

This is how a unique, exciting, and also a little sad story of the eagle owls of Dannenberg began, which not only fascinated the Dannenbergs.

The misfortune of some turned into happiness for others: the eagle owls had a spacious and protected space to build a nest.
The building, which was cordoned off because of the danger of collapsing, was very popular with the new residents.
The location, in the middle of the old town, just a few meters from the mighty ringing of the church bells, did not disturb the owls in their plans.
The nest was built.

The roof is alive.

The breeding phase is not very spectacular. The mother laid three eggs and stayed on the nest, while dad took care of the food. Hardly anyone noticed at the time that although the ruins had burned down, they were not without life.
The eagle owls behaved inconspicuously - you could only see the owl dad briefly in the evening at dusk when he brought his freshly captured owl to the owl mother in the nest.
The eagle owl dad was, as befits a man, a very chic bird: a bright feather tie adorned his neck.
Like a ghost he suddenly appeared out of nowhere, silently gliding past the nearby church tower, accompanied by the typical call: ´´Uhuhuuu...´´, always something edible in his claws. He dodged the charred rafters with acrobatic agility and disappeared into the attic...
Just as he suddenly appeared, he disappeared again into the darkness. The sight of its outstretched wings aroused respect from anyone lucky enough to see it in flight. Time passed. The chicks hatched, three in number.

The owl papa fed tirelessly, and soon they had grown so much that they left the nest : Pairs of orange eyes could be seen in the evening sun, sparkling like jewels as the three fledglings squinted at the sunset, perched on the purlin between the rafters. The feathers grew longer, the excursions bolder, and curiosity ever greater. The wide world beckoned. From the edge of the attic, the chicks had an ideal view of the world below. One day the bravest of the fledglings dared to take off from the edge of the roof and landed unharmed on the church forecourt below.

Did he jump or fall? Maybe something of both.
The incident did not go unnoticed for long : ´´An eagle owl chick fell out of the nest !´´
A rescue operation was initiated. The area was cordoned off by the police. A fire brigade operation with a long ladder followed.
Onlookers gathered, finally something was going on in Dannenberg!
The little owl was carefully placed in a box and, to applause from onlookers, a fireman carried him upstairs and released him in the attic. However, the joy did not last long :
After the helpers had withdrawn and calm had returned, the same young bird probably repeated the jump and landed again on the forecourt of the church...

An exciting chapter of the owl story followed: The owls on the move...

The eagle owls on the move....

If you land on the ´´bottom of facts´´, you get insights. The same goes for the little owl: the flight down is easier than the way back to the nest.
The forces were not enough for that, the plumage was more fluff than feathers, the bird of prey still looked like a ´´cuddly owl´´. The big round head, two big, shiny eyes, almost like a teddy bear, completed the somehow cute appearance. But the beak, as well as the large, hairy fangs, already gave an idea of the mighty predator that even foxes and hedgehogs have to fear.

The young owl that had now landed on the church forecourt could not make it up. That's how he did it hiking on foot. It went first to the small Greek wine bar, benches and chairs he could with a flap of his wings easily cope. As if it were a playground, he was now practicing his jumping and flying skills, so that he was soon on neighboring terraces and explore balconies.

The preferred form of locomotion remained that of a pedestrian. That's how you saw him sometimes at the wine tavern, sometimes at the parish office: the parish office employees were amazed when they saw the open door suddenly an owl stood and threw curious looks into the office!
Someone also found a name: because of his adventurous spirit he was now called ´´Trapper John´´.
On the following excursions he now explored the market square, the police station and the restaurant on the square.
His appearance aroused enthusiasm, and sometimes irritation - cell phones were pulled out and photos were taken.
All this worried the young owl little, he almost seemed to feel comfortable in the role of a ''top model''.
Once he probably sat all day on a small wall by the castle moat and watched the passers-by at eye level, was not disturbed by the occasional passing car.

I was lucky enough to see him up close: that day he was sitting in a niche by the church.
With a 500mm lens I took pictures from a respectful distance. However, the ´´Trapper John´´ suddenly walked towards me and then stopped 2 meters in front of me. I caught my breath.
I sat down on the cobblestone floor and put the camera next to me. The distance was now too small to take photos with my camera optics.
Behind me stood a young colleague, Max, to whom I whispered:
´ ´Max, take a picture, a picture please...´´.
This is how the photo with the owl and me next to it, sitting on the ground, was taken. A unique souvenir for me - thank you Max!

In the meantime I have spent several hours a day with the owls. However, I missed the moment when the second chick finally left the nest to join ´´Trapper John´´.
This, too, was named after the style of the house: Oskar.
Now we had two young owls to entertain. The smallest of the three was baptized ´´Puschel´´ even before he ventured out. Around that time, the mother owl left her nest and took up permanent post in a niche in the church roof, from where she could always keep a watchful eye on her chicks.
She sat motionless on the church roof like a monument made of stone, and with stoic calm she defied sun, storm and rain.
From below one often believed that she was asleep. With binoculars or a telephoto lens, however, you could see that she kept opening one eye slightly - she always had what was happening down there under control.

The young owls were carefully cared for and fed wherever they happened to be. When the owl papa came with prey, this was announced in advance: the young became restless, screeched, and tried to get to the usual feeding place in the attic using their practiced hopping technique. Whether they succeeded or not, everyone got something.

The flight attempts became more and more successful. The little ones were able to cover longer and longer distances and even fly from roof to roof. The landing didn't always succeed, I've seen a number of 'crash landings' when the beak was used to gain a secure hold. The young owls came to the realization that it is difficult to land on a sloping roof, especially when the roof tiles are wet from the rain. Several such failed landings ended up on the church forecourt below. The owls learned that it is easier to land on a beam or a branch.

In the meantime, the owls have also taken possession of the lower floors of the burnt ruins, and like in a Punch and Judy show, they alternately appear in one window and then in the other. The charred window frames provided the appropriate setting for the small actors, who were also spectators at the same time. A unique sight in a unique ambience!

´´ Owls at the table, please!´´

Now I come to a topic that can be felt quite differently: the menu of our favorites.
One or the other may well say that it is brutal, even disgusting, to watch the owls eating.
As cuddly and cute as the young owls may look, they are birds of prey, also called ´´raptors´´ by biologists, and they certainly do justice to this name. ....It is what it is: In addition to white-tailed eagles and golden eagles, they belong to our largest birds of prey, also known as ´´birds of prey´´ by laypeople.
Pigeons, crows and dolen are at the top of the menu for our eagle owls. We know from road traffic that they occasionally move very clumsily and clumsily, so that unfortunately they are often run over. Crows and jackdaws, for example, are much more skilful in dealing with the impending danger of an approaching vehicle, even at higher speeds.

I was lucky enough to observe a hunting scene of the owl parents and capture it on camera. There are brief moments frozen by means of a very short shutter speed that would hardly be perceptible to the naked eye.

That day I was there when two pigeons were cooing in the old oak tree by the church, in the immediate vicinity of the owls. Suddenly, while gliding, a powerful shadow fell from the church tower into the oak tree, and the next moment the big owl was sitting on one of the Rooftops next to the church, a dove in its claws. With my camera I just managed to catch the eagle owl mother with dove in flight. Holding the shutter tight, I shot several series of the drama. I was extremely pleased with my haul and the young eagle owls looked forward to their supper.

Now we come to another favorite food of the owls: the hedgehog!
Hedgehogs don't have many natural enemies. The greatest danger for him is the badger, and the eagle owl. With its huge fangs and long claws, an eagle owl can grab a completely curled up hedgehog.

I became convinced of this when I saw the owl father arrive several times with a hedgehog as prey.
A pigeon for the three hungry "teenage" owls could be described as a "snack".
A hedgehog, on the other hand, is a bigger bite. I also managed to photograph the owl father with hedgehog in his claws, an impressive sight.
A rabbit, a small fox, a muskrat and other small mammals have also been sighted on the owl table.

Dimitros, the owner of a small cozy wine bar right next to the church, was a welcome help:
When I came to the church square in the early evening, Dimitros told me in detail about the owl's activities of the day.
He had the best view of what was happening from his apartment above the wine bar. Hardly anything escaped his attention.

The descendant

A sad chapter concerns the youngest of the owl chicks. He was the last to leave the nest and always wobbled a bit behind the two older ones. He was often the last to eat. Nevertheless, he too was soon able to test his powers on short excursions. The father increasingly designed the feedings in such a way that the adolescents had to use their wings to get to the food. He announced his arrival with the typical ´´Uhuhuu´´, but now flew onto a neighboring roof, so that the growing chicks had to fly to him. He repeated this several times until he surrendered the catch. The boys were encouraged to practice flying. The youngest, the offspring, always fell a little behind when, more hopping than flying, it finally reached the feeding place. On the way there, always following the others, he croaked loudly, as if he wanted to call out: ''Wait for me''!

I also took the nice photos of him when he often looked out through the broken window of the burnt ruins. But then one day he was found injured on the ground, apparently attacked by an animal.

A vet checked him and was forrsed to put him to sleep.

The story comes to an end

September. The offspring have now grown up. In fact, they have already reached the size of adult eagle owls. It was becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish them from the adults. The parents have also changed a bit in terms of their behavior. They showed up less and less, I could watch the feeding of the young less and less.
The young birds were thus encouraged to undertake their own hunting attempts. Every now and then they tried stalking potential prey, sometimes a neighborhood cat, sometimes a crow.
For a long time it was just an attempt. I was also able to observe how the two young birds moved closer together after the death of the third.

They were almost inseparable. So they always tried to hunt together.
Using a certain 'encirclement' tactic, they attempted to corner a pigeon.
The first successes of such hunting exercises soon followed. The activities kept shifting into the evening darkness. So it became more and more difficult for me to take photos.
The like-minded ´´regular observers´´, who had often kept me company, were also fewer.
At least new acquaintances and friendships remained, which were made thanks to the owls, People who didn't look for each other, but found each other.

Zbigniew Jodlowski