Thursday 18 November04h50: We are woken up by the sound of crash behind us. We peep through the curtain by the window above our bed, to find an owl sitting on the windowsill - one of the chicks. It didn't see us so we quickly backed off. Next thing, the chickflaps and bashes against the window. The windows open outwards and up, and the chick is between the glass and the window ledge, trying to fly out. Every time it attempts, it hits the glass window.
Suddenly, the chick loses its footing and falls into our bedroom, onto the bed - almost on top of me. Luckily I knew what this bundle of feathers was before it descended on me, otherwise you would no doubt have heard a blood-curdling scream.....
Quickly, we pick the chick up, open the balcony door and put it outside. The chick is panicked, and flies to the balcony pillar immediately. Pappa joins the chick, hooting a lot. By now, the second chick has joined everyone on the balcony. I think Pappa and Pot Plant Owl must have decided to take the family to their roosting spot for the day, because one by one, they all fly to the neighbour's roof, and then across the road to the next roof, before disappearing behind the trees. I hope we see them tonight.
Leaving behind Teeny, who was on the garage roof of the neighbour's house. We knew there was no way of Teeny following its family, because the flight across the road to the other complex, is a long upward flight for Teeny. Teeny tried getting over our complex wall, and got caught by the electric fence. For a brief moment, we thought Teeny was hurt, but seconds later, it was on the ground again, hissing. Teeny is now sitting on the ground at the back of the neighbour's house.
As soon as the neighbour wakes up, we will ask if we can fetch Teeny and return it to the nest. Teeny is struggling with flying up, and gaining height. We now think Teeny may be lacking confidence in his / her flying, and this is the reason why Teeny is not attempting anything but wall to wall flying along a horizontal path. By returning Teeny to the nest, we hope that when night falls and PPO returns to feed it, Teeny will attempt to fly from one roof to the other. When Teeny manages this, like the other chicks, Teeny will be able to join the family once and for all. We will return Teeny to the nest probably at 06h30 Central African Time.
06h35 Central Africam Time: We found Teeny on a windowsill at the back of the neighbour's house. We were worried that Teeny had been hurt by the electric fence, but Teeny appears to be okay. We picked it up and brought it back up to the balcony. We also carried the owl box back upstairs before we got Teeny, so it had something familiar there. Teeny is now sitting in the owl box.