About Baby Owls Baby owls, known as owlets or nestlings, are extremely cute! While aspects such as size, behavior, and growth differ by species, there are also many similarities among baby owls. After hatching, owlets rely heavily on their parents. They are completely helpless, as for the first few days of their lives, their eyes are closed. Just like human babies, owlets also struggle with movement in the beginning. This puts a lot of responsibility on the parent owl to protect and feed their babies. Their down is what makes the babies so fluffy and soft. After birth, owlets are covered in down—a soft, fuzzy, and insulating layer of feathers that makes them look especially fluffy and soft. This pale down is different from the feathers they will need for flight as adults, and it is what makes the owlet in the post above so adorable.

Although the size and growth rate of owlets vary greatly by species, all owlets are quite small after birth. The Eurasian eagle-owl is one of the largest species of owl on earth. Though specific hatchling weights are not widely published, Eurasian eagle-owl chicks are estimated to weigh around two ounces, which is similar to the weight of a large egg. They are finally able to fly after around nine to ten weeks. In comparison, the elf owl grows extremely quickly. Elf owls are the smallest species of owl in the world, and adults weigh about 1.2 to 1.9 ounces, roughly the weight of a golf ball. If adults are this small, then the babies must weigh practically nothing. However, after only a month of growth, they are able to leave the nest and travel on their own. So, while size and growth rates differ among species, all owlets undergo remarkable changes as they mature into adults.

When Do Owls Lose Their Down? Unfortunately, the fluffiness is only temporary, meaning that owls will eventually grow out of their cute stage. As they get older, owlets develop real feathers, called pin feathers, which begin to emerge and gradually replace the down. The time between hatching and adulthood is divided into stages. While they are covered in down at the beginning of their lives, owls enter the fledgling stage, during which they have many pin feathers and are starting to learn to fly. When they enter the juvenile stage, they are covered in pin feathers and begin to make their own solo journeys. Based on these descriptions, the owl in the post above appears to be in the early nestling stage, likely only a few weeks old.