Spotted Eagle Owl attacks Barn Owls in Nest

Description
This video shows my rehabilitated Spotted Eagle Owl attacking two Barn Owls in their nest box. He tolerated them in his territory for more than 2 years, but at the time this video was made, he had 5 orphaned owlets to take care of and I think they maybe interfered with him and the owlets while he was busy teaching them how to hunt. The two Barn Owls fled to the nest box, thinking that they would be safe once inside, but unfortunately the opening was to big and the Spotted Eagle Owl was able to enter the nest. He however soon realised that a cornered Barn Owl female, defending her nest, is not something that you tackle bare handed.

Look how it is actually the larger female that defends the nest, while the smaller male crouches away behind her in the corner. As soon as he gets the chance the male rushes out of the nest, knowing that he is much more agile than the Spotted Eagle Owl. The Spotty left the nest a couple of minutes later and no one was hurt.

The following day I made the entrance a bit smaller to prevent him from entering the nest again, but his curiosity got the upper hand of him and as soon as I finished, he tried getting into the nest again but got stuck. Although it was actually quite a hilarious situation I was quite worried that he might injure himself, but fortunately, with a little bit of help from me, he managed to free himself. The only thing that got hurt in the process was maybe his pride. Fortunately the Barn Owls were not in the nest when he got stuck or else he would not have been so lucky. In nature it is not uncommon for Spotted Eagle Owls to raid Barn Owl nests and they will kill and eat the young ones if the opportunity arises. The video footage was taken with infrared security night cameras.

Видео Spotted Eagle Owl attacks Barn Owls in Nest канала The Caring Owl