A Hong Kong botanic garden has successfully bred a pair of rare brown wood owls, with two chicks recently fledging in a secret program.

A pair of rare brown wood owls have been bred at a botanic garden in Hong Kong, with two chicks fledging last month. Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden in Tai Po kept the breeding programme under wraps for weeks, allowing the chicks to grow undisturbed before announcing it. The chicks, still downy white, were seen peering curiously from their nest among ferns in the farm’s mature forest. Their mother kept watch from a nearby tree during the day and foraged for food at night, the farm said in a...