Lost 3 Owlets to a Third Owl that has been showing up often.

Hello, I recently installed an owl box here in So.Calif. I had a pair of barn Owls with 3 Owlets until a third Owl came in and distroyed the young when the female was out for a fly around. The pair have come back and appear to be ready to start another clutch. Any advise from anyone would be appreciated. Also I would like to add that I have viewed some of the videos on the net and many sites show barn Owls flying during the daytime. I have never seen any Barn Owl activity during the daylight hours. can anyone tell me why ? I have cameras inside and outside the box for viewing activity. New to Owl watching, any information is very welcome.
Thank You, Norm

Hi Norm, I am replying to your post on this forum and am very happy to help you with your questions. The third owl you have seen is most likely a competing male for the territory or the nest. Killing the young was his act to stop the genes of the father owl from being passed down and he may at some point challenge the resident nesting male for the female. Have you seen any type of interaction between the 3 owls in the area or near the nest itself?

Regarding your question about seeing Barn Owls flying during the day, that is some thing I had also noted and wondered why we didn't see that at our nests here in the US that we are watching. There are 2 reasons why that I had noticed, the first is most of the flighted ones we see are done by Falconers in the UK, this can be determined by the anklets and jessies (a leather band around the birds ankles with another leather strip hanging for grabbing by the falconer). The second reason is that in the UK and Northern Europe were a lot of these videos are from the day light hours are much longer due to the far northern latitude and sun set is much much later. This gives the appearance that they birds are flying during the day and the only real documented cases of seeing barn owls hunting during the day is when they have huge clutches to feed and can't do it all in a night. This happens mostly in very rural and country settings were there is little disturbance by humans that would keep the owls inside. In the country settings were there are basically no human structures, lights, cars, etc the owls don't feel they need the total cover of darkness to hunt.

If you have any more questions let me know and I will be happy to answer what I can for you. Are you on "Ustream" with your owls?

Peace & Blessings, EagleEye

EagleEye wrote:

Hi Norm, I am replying to your post on this forum and am very happy to help you with your questions. The third owl you have seen is most likely a competing male for the territory or the nest. Killing the young was his act to stop the genes of the father owl from being passed down and he may at some point challenge the resident nesting male for the female. Have you seen any type of interaction between the 3 owls in the area or near the nest itself?

Regarding your question about seeing Barn Owls flying during the day, that is some thing I had also noted and wondered why we didn't see that at our nests here in the US that we are watching. There are 2 reasons why that I had noticed, the first is most of the flighted ones we see are done by Falconers in the UK, this can be determined by the anklets and jessies (a leather band around the birds ankles with another leather strip hanging for grabbing by the falconer). The second reason is that in the UK and Northern Europe were a lot of these videos are from the day light hours are much longer due to the far northern latitude and sun set is much much later. This gives the appearance that they birds are flying during the day and the only real documented cases of seeing barn owls hunting during the day is when they have huge clutches to feed and can't do it all in a night. This happens mostly in very rural and country settings were there is little disturbance by humans that would keep the owls inside. In the country settings were there are basically no human structures, lights, cars, etc the owls don't feel they need the total cover of darkness to hunt.

If you have any more questions let me know and I will be happy to answer what I can for you. Are you on "Ustream" with your owls?

Peace & Blessings, EagleEye

Thanks for the explanations of the behavier. I have seen the third Owl on top of the Owl house fighting a bit with the male while the female was on eggs. I am not on any kind of streaming as I am not real computer savvy. I have security cameras that I view on the computer.
Thanks again, Norm