What Owl Is In My Garden ?
Discussion
I have at least four owls in my garden.
I know there are Barn owls nearby so I googled for their sound and it's 90% what I'm hearing - a screech, my wife describe as "like opening a rusty door"
However I got a good look at two of them tonight and they are brown all over - they definitely do not have white faces nor underbellies.
I've then googled the sound of the other 4 types of owl and their calls aren't similar to a barn owl and none look particularly like them.
They are definitely owls and it explains what's taking the dead rabbits at night that I've been leaving out for the Buzzards.
Size wise it's hard to say as they were 20' up a tree but I'd guess at least 14" as I've got four in the garden I presume they're young.
Thoughts ?
I know there are Barn owls nearby so I googled for their sound and it's 90% what I'm hearing - a screech, my wife describe as "like opening a rusty door"
However I got a good look at two of them tonight and they are brown all over - they definitely do not have white faces nor underbellies.
I've then googled the sound of the other 4 types of owl and their calls aren't similar to a barn owl and none look particularly like them.
They are definitely owls and it explains what's taking the dead rabbits at night that I've been leaving out for the Buzzards.
Size wise it's hard to say as they were 20' up a tree but I'd guess at least 14" as I've got four in the garden I presume they're young.
Thoughts ?
V8RX7 said:
I've never seen any of them flying 
Tawnys fly at night. As in 'after it gets dark' night, generally speaking. I regularly ride a MTB through woodland at night, and those little beggars will s
t you right up by swooping out of the canopy, or down from a branch. Total silence,they just glance the edge of the cone of light from the bike's front lamp and then disappear again like ghosts.Barn Owls hunt in low light at the beginning and end of the daylight period. Creatures of habit, they often come back again and again at the same time. They like verges too, which is why they struggle to survive near busier roads. I've spent many a road ride in brief company with a Barn Owl flying either beside me or directly ahead above the road surface.
Never seen any of our other owls, sadly, but we have recently had a pair of Red Kite spotted nearby. Last Friday I was at our bedroom window with my binoculars (Farnborough air show validation week, I'm *ahem* not a bloody pervert before you all start!) watching an F-18 Hornet practice it's display routine when one of these Kites flew low (chimney height) over the house opposite me (after carrion? we do back onto the M3 after all) before being driven off by local Corvids. An impressive sight close up!
Curiously, despite Barn Owls being easier to spot, there are far more breeding pairs of Tawny Owls resident in the UK than Barn Owls. I always perceived it to be the other way around. I used to collect the pellets for a young woman studying owls for her university project when I worked at an army ammunition bunker. At least one of the local owls regularly used the alarm control panel box under the canopy as a roost, often leaving pellets on the floor and the occasional entrails on the top/side of the box drying on. Being a remote bunker it was well covered by CCTV so the guardroom staff used to watch the comings and goings of this particular Barn Owl with interest, as I did when I was in there in the evenings.
garyhun said:
"My" barn owl comes out around 6pm and hunts for a good hour or two around my barn before looking elsewhere.
Seeing it fly at about 12ft towards the patio doors before swooping over the roof with prey in its talons is a sight to savour.
Tawny owls are just sounds in the darkness
Our local Tawney owl swoops over me when I leave the house early in the morning. It has skimmed my head by inches. Makes me jump every time. Seeing it fly at about 12ft towards the patio doors before swooping over the roof with prey in its talons is a sight to savour.
Tawny owls are just sounds in the darkness
blueg33 said:
garyhun said:
"My" barn owl comes out around 6pm and hunts for a good hour or two around my barn before looking elsewhere.
Seeing it fly at about 12ft towards the patio doors before swooping over the roof with prey in its talons is a sight to savour.
Tawny owls are just sounds in the darkness
Our local Tawney owl swoops over me when I leave the house early in the morning. It has skimmed my head by inches. Makes me jump every time. Seeing it fly at about 12ft towards the patio doors before swooping over the roof with prey in its talons is a sight to savour.
Tawny owls are just sounds in the darkness
blueg33 said:
Don't it's hateful. I leave the house at 4.40am a couple of times a week.
The plus side is the owl and I sometimes see muntjacs or roe deer in the front garden.
Interestingly, with the hot weather at the moment Mrs G and I find ourselves waking at around 4am to the roe deer munching in the grass outside our bedroom window. Muntjacs seem to come whenever they feel - 3pm the other day. The plus side is the owl and I sometimes see muntjacs or roe deer in the front garden.
Have to say it's a real privilege living on the countryside with all the wonderful varieties of nature around.
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