Owl Watching

[LozSanders]

I live in Essex and know there are owls around....... any tips on watching/photographing them? Times,technique for Barn,Tawny& Little.

Thanks

[Woody]

I live in Essex and know there are owls around....... any tips on watching/photographing them? Times,technique for Barn,Tawny& Little.

Thanks
Hi Loz,

I always seem to see barn owls in early summer when they have broods to feed, they are up and about before dark and after sunrise at that time of year.
Little owls like to bask in the sunshine and will often be faithful to 'their spot' on 'their tree', early mornings are best I find.
Tawny owls I have always found tricky as their camo is so good. 9 times out of ten I've found them by listening to the racket made by other birds when they find them, mespecially chaffinches for some reason. You can hone in on the noise and you usually find the tawnies sitting close to the trunk of a tree, very often an ivy covered one.
Another way to find if owls are in the area is to look for the pellets on the ground. Or you could try 'talking' to tawny owls at night, the call is fairly easy to mimic and I've managed to call in owls a couple of times.

I hope this helps and good luck with your owl hunting!

woody

[paulwfromtheden]

Or you could try 'talking' to tawny owls at night, the call is fairly easy to mimic and I've managed to call in owls a couple of times.

Just dont let any of your mates catch you 'talking' to the owls on video, could be very embarassing!!

[StevieEvans]

I live in Essex and know there are owls around....... any tips on watching/photographing them? Times,technique for Barn,Tawny& Little.

Thanks

Hi Loz
Sometimes its just pot luck, ive seen all 5 species over the last week when driving about at dawn or (mostly) dusk.
Im sure there will be lots more advice, if not search for previous similar threads...
Steve

[KnockerNorton]

You've probably got short-eared and long-eared around aswell.

For barn and short-eared, just find the habitat (meadowland/saltmarshes/open scrub) and go on a cold winter afternoon towards dusk.

For Tawny, listen out for hoots, and then hoot back - they really do reply if you're good enough!

[Bill@dwp]

I've seen Barn Owls around during the day at the moment.
If you find an eagle owl don't tell anyone about it :)

[LozSanders]

Thanks everyone, I have to say I haven't tried 'talking' to them! I'll give it a go! :flowers: