One of the world’s largest owls, the eagle owl, has set up camp in the window box of Jos Baart’s third-floor apartment. Since the mother owl’s three gigantic chicks hatched, they have watched television through the window with their new owner.
In a video shared by the Dutch TV show Vroege Vogels (or Early Birds in English), the huge, fluffy chicks can be seen standing at attention in a row, looking over Baart’s shoulder at the TV screen.
Their less friendly mother usually watches her young behind a shrub, apparently a bit warier of Baart’s and her babies’ TV habits.
“From there, she has a good view of the nest,” he explains in the video. “She can stay there for six to eight hours at a time.”
They seem to have become more comfortable with each other, but Baart used to think they were nuisances not that long ago.
“I thought, damn, these pigeons again,” he says in the video.
One day, he was wrong when he arrived home to find that the big mother owl had taken flight in front of his eyes.
“You can see how relaxed they are,” Baart says in the video. “They’re not scared at all. To me, it’s like watching a movie 24 hours a day.”
Owls typically nest on cliffs and ledges, says the U.S. National Avian, but they have sometimes been known to take over abandoned golden eagles’ nests. Guinness World Records recognizes this species (also known as Bubo bubo) as the world’s giant owl, with a wingspan of more than 5 feet. They are free of natural predators, have a 20-year lifespan in the wild, and can live up 60 years in captivity.
