North Yorkshire-based UK artist Robert E. Fuller also happens to be a wildlife photographer.
To draw the interest of his muses, he builds wildlife habitats and nesting boxes in his garden to lure them in.
The nesting boxes have nesting cameras.
This close monitoring allows him to study them more intimately, contributing to the authenticity of his artistic representations of them.
Plus, it’s just fun to watch them.
Fuller also rescues animals.
This includes orphaned or lost owlets, a.k.a. baby owls.
“I regularly place orphaned or lost owlets into tawny owl nests and these birds accept the young chicks as their own. Their urge to protect and nurture is strong,” Fuller explains in a caption of one of his YouTube videos.
One of the tawny owls Fuller has playing the role of adoptive mom is named Luna.
Luna was actually a rescued owl herself. She was taken in by owls at Fuller’s place in 2017 and raised as their own.
Because of their care and protection, Luna grew to be a healthy adult owl who wanted to be a mother to her own chicks.
Luna tried to hatch her eggs for two years.
Sadly, her eggs never hatched.
She also lost an entire batch of eggs in the previous year, according to The Dodo.
But thankfully, Luna still had the chance to become a mom.
Fuller came across two orphaned owlets.
Both were in need of a mother. He knew that placing the babies with Luna would help her to fulfill her motherly instincts and give them a chance at survival.
So, Fuller placed the two owlets inside Luna’s nest and waited for her to come back.
He was hoping that she would accept the babies as her own and raise them. Thankfully, Luna immediately took to the two little babies.
Luna lunged into her tree hole after peeking her head in and spotting the two baby birds.
She hurried on over to them and placed the babies under her wings and got right to covering them up to make sure they were warm and protected.
This is called “brooding.”
Female owls will sit on their young to help regulate the body temperature of their babies until they have enough feathers and can regulate their own body temperatures.
Fuller was overjoyed to see that these two little babies have a new mom. He was also thrilled for Luna.
“This means that after a long wait, Luna the tawny owl is finally a mum,” Fuller wrote.
Luna wasn’t the only one celebrating.
Her mate, Bomber, was more than happy to welcome the little owlets into the nest.
“The first time Bomber the tawny owl discovers the two rescued chicks I placed in the nest he seems very excited. But Luna seems a little protective and doesn’t let him too close just yet. She lets him have a quick look then guides him out of their nest with a firm claw on his leg as if to say, now go and get them some food,” Fuller remarked.
Thanks to mom and dad’s new roles, the babies are doing well and should be able to head back out into the wild on their own soon.
See the moment Luna flies home to two new babies in her nest in the video below!
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