Frank the Eagle Owl is back home

Frank the European Eagle Owl is well-known as one of the stars of the afternoon flying show at Paradise Park Wildlife Sanctuary.

From Left: Keepers Matt, Elinor, Sarah-Jayne holding Frank and Keeper Archie.

Prior to the start of the summer events, the show staff put in a tremendous amount of work with the birds, using positive reinforcement training so they are ready for their daily flights at Easter.

On 26th March Head of Shows Sarah-Jayne and Presenter Matt took Frank out to the picnic lawn for one of his first training flights. Unfortunately some seagulls noticed, swooped towards him and he flew towards the car park and sat in a tall tree for the rest of the day. Keepers kept watch on him and tried to call him down but he was very happy watching visitors come and go from his perch. At dusk he moved around a bit but still wouldn’t come down to Archie or Emma, the next Keepers on watch.

Head of Shows Sarah-Jayne explains “Like most of the birds in shows, Frank has a tiny GPS transmitter attached to a tail feather so he can be tracked if he is out of sight. On Thursday Becky (‘Head of Softbills’ at Paradise Park) and I  tracked him sitting in the trees at the Park just relaxing still not ready to come down. In the evening, he was active again, and staff tried to locate him using the GPS but now the signal was not so clear and we couldn’t see him. That night though Frank was spotted near Hayle Tennis Courts – this was the last ping on the GPS location as the battery went into power saving mode then shut down. Our post on social media led to lots of sightings from the local community which was invaluable and it seemed he had a very busy night hooting around Hayle, early next morning there was no sign as he was most likely needing to rest.

Frank had been out two nights but we knew he was doing fine, it was just a question of when he would be ready to come down perhaps tempted by an easy meal. So, Friday evening Keepers Elinor and Matt were driving around Hayle searching as it was getting dark and thankfully struck lucky at Hayle Academy.

Matt alerted me and I was on my way, meanwhile Frank tried to land on Matt but due to the angle could not quite do it and flew back to the school. As we didn’t have access to the school grounds we searched out the best place and eventually I called, or should I say ‘hooted’ and Frank responded. I ‘hooted’ again and Frank came closer. It was very dark, and although I couldn’t see him, I talked to him and held my gloved hand out. Out of the dark he flew straight over to me but was a bit nervous and landed on a fence. I took the opportunity to take hold of the leather jesse’s around his ankles and brought him to the glove. The Keepers had a little victory cheer and dance (sorry Hayle) and Keeper Archie drove us all back to Paradise Park.”

Before going back into his aviary Frank was given a full health check to make sure he was not in need of medical treatment from his little ‘holiday’ and his GPS was removed. Once he had the all clear he was back in his aviary with his favourite meal.

The staff would like to express their sincere thanks to the local community who came to Frank’s aid and reported sightings on social media, which the Keepers were able to follow up quickly and made all the difference in ensuring Frank came home quickly and safely. THANK YOU! xx