EASTHAM - Like many of their 20-something human counterparts, four young screech owls raised at Wild Care Inc. on Smith Lane over the summer are finding it hard to leave the nest.

The six-month-old birds, rescued from a wood chipper in Mashpee by homeowner David Langler in May, have gathered enough courage to leave their cage in the barn of the nonprofit animal group at night to hunt for mice and small moles. But, come morning, the tiny brown and white owls make their way back to the open cage for bedtime, said Wild Care director Lela Larned.

Like a nervous mother, she encourages the young birds to test their skills in the outside world, but closes the cage after them in the morning, to keep them safe from the human activity outside.

"We want them to have the best odds," she said.

The training technique is hundreds of years old, first used by falconers to coax their birds back to them, Larned said. Known as ''hacking out,'' it is similar to what owl parents do to teach their young how to hunt and survive in nature at night, while keeping them safe in the nest during the day.

Larned said she has used the technique to rehabilitate larger birds of prey, such as hawks and condors, at her former rehabilitation post in California.

The owlets found in Mashpee looked like tiny puffs of cotton when they were brought to Wild Care in May. The smallest weighed just 24 grams, but all have increased their weight tenfold since then, she said.

Larned has been ''pleasantly surprised'' at the success she has had with not only the four owls rescued in Mashpee, but two other screech owls brought in this summer.

One was found in Dennis and had been plucked featherless by crows. Another was found at Cape Cod Sea Camps in Brewster with its leg caught in a fence. All six owls are now hacking out from the Wild Care barn, she said.

A conservation area and bog behind the Wild Care barn offer perfect hunting habitat for the 5- or 6-inch tall birds. They earn their name from the screeching or screaming noise they often make.

The birds, which have a distinctive facial disk, yellow eyes and two ear-like tufts, feast on small rodents and insects.

Robin Lord can be reached at rlord@capecodonline.com