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How do you find Owls? (1 Viewer)

D

Dave B Smith

Well-known member
My life list is at 353 and growing nicely, but looking at it I noticed a distinct lack of Owls, just two. So how is everyone else finding them?

I know many owls roost in a particular spot and once someone reports it, others can usually find it. That hasn't helped me much as I'm not usually near other birders.

So, how do most of y'all find them?
Thanks,
 
Hi Dave,

I find conifers near open fields and then......... I look down.

I've rarely found owls by looking for them in trees, etc. I look for their pellets and white-wash droppings AND THEN look up.

The owls around here(and I suppose elsewhere) usually roost in dense cover(conifers) or holes in trees and buidings during the day. At night they seem to have their favorite roosts overlooking fields or other rodent haunts.

Hope this helps.
look down,
dennis
 
Hi Dave,

Some more tips:

1. Listen for birds mobbing them, and watch where the mobbing is directed most intensely

2. Look for them out hunting on calm sunny evenings the evening after a very wet and windy night, or even better, two or three consecutive wet windy nights. Owls can't hunt well in wind & rain, so they go hungry, and come out to hunt much earlier than normal when the weather improves.

3. (Particularly for far northen people like me, this won't work well in Mexico) - look for them on evenings in early summer when the nights are very short, yet they still have to find food for their newly fledged young. This is the other time owls are forced to hunt in daylight, late June nights here are only 5 hours long, and after the 19 hour day, the chicks are hungry and insist on being fed early.

Michael
 
I regularly go out Owl hunting and in my experience the best time is on wet or damp drizzley nights, in the UK Tawny and Little Owls in particular will hunt for invertibrates on little used wet roads, the best time and place to look is on the leeward side of woods on a breezy night, they tend to hunt early evening just after dark. Mostly they have set feeding times and will roost to digest their food for a few hours then come out again around midnight, then againfor about two hours before dawn.
Most Owls are best seen around the time of breeding when they have hungry young to feed, Barn Owls seem to be most active in March and April and can be seen at all times of the day as well as the night in these months (again this is in the UK).
Still clear nights are generally not as good because hunting and feeding is easier so the birds are not as active because they catch prey quickly and roost to digest their meal for much of the time.
 

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Thanks to all so far for the suggestions. They sound good and I'm going to start trying harder to find some more owls. So far I just have the Great Horned Owl (that lives in my neighbor's tree) and finally I found a Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl recently (at dusk) in Huatulco.

And magnificent photo Nigel!
 
I have read (or was I told) that they frequent the same spots when resting/digesting. So if you spot white wash during the day, definitely come back in the early evening.

The advice on the rainy days is great. I'll have to try using that tip. I'm a big owl fan, but I've only seen 2 in the wild, a GHO & a Barred owl just a few weeks back. I've included a picture of the Barred.

eric
 
I have noticed in my birding area that owls seem to use the same perch that hawks use during daytime hours. I drive my local area at dusk and have had success in finding GHO's.

I bird a few old cemeterys with stands of dense evergreens looking for whitwash , pellets. Screech owls, northern-sew-whet
have been found this way. Great location for general birding also.

Great tips from Nigel Blake, thanks.
 
I've found that driving slowly along quiet country lanes at dusk can bring surprises.

I've spotted Tawny, Barn and Little Owls on local quiet roads where overgrown hedgerows back onto cattle/horse pastures with some wild corners and woodland. This is 1 mile outside a major urban area of the west midlands.

Tawny owls are often in the cities and I use to hear/see them in Moseley, central Birmingham.

Though my best view of a Little Owl was on my favorite country lane drive when my missus insisted on detouring down it as she wanted to see an owl that day. I went along with it explaining that "They don't just appear by order you know!", and not expecting to see anything, but we did, a Little Owl flying alongside the car then perching to watch us, watching him.
 
My next door neighbour once knocked on my door nowing i was in to birds, thay were driving down a lane on there way home and hit something we went out to there car and a little owl was wedged in there radiator grill, i managed to get it out and called the RSPB a week
later he rang me to say that he had relesed it were thay hit it..
Great stuff good deed of the day!!
 
Instead of me finding the owls the owl found me. Falconry hunting season just opened in NC here a couple of weeks ago. We have about 500 acres of wetlands behind our house and I was hunting with Louie my hawk. I called him down to the fist and as he landed I saw something huge out of the corner of my left eye. I looked and about 5 feet from me is this really large Barred Owl. I love listening to their calls and they are very beautiful birds. This one just sat and stared at me for about a minute. I wasn't worried about him attacking Louie. I slowly walked away and still remember that beautiful face.
 
The more one can get out and bird, the more likely one will see an owl. It is not practical for most people to go birding every day/night. So you subscribe to forums, listserves and the like to get the news about when and where birds are being seen. Some people have "a knack" for finding owls and can direct others to where they may be roosting. I have seen a Snowy Owl three or four times. Usually someone happens upon one and they spread the word so others can see it. One time I was the one who happened upon one and called others to come and take a look.

Looking for "white wash" and pellets is a good way to find an owl as others have previously stated. When small birds are "making a racket" it is a good idea in investigate why they are agitated. A lot of times they are disturbed by an owl roosting nearby.
 

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The photo above was a picture I took of a Snowy Owl which a lady in northeast Missouri located. Word of its presence was broadcast to the birding community of the state and many people had a chance to see this "sometime" visitor to our state. It is reported about every ten years or so here in Missouri. This particular owl stayed in the same general area for over a month.

Larry
 
I think I am a very lucky person, as I have had the delight of seeing a barn owl on several occasions, one that readily springs to mind was when I worked early in the morning, I got out to hear such a commotion that on investigation discovered one bullied Barn owl trying to hide in the bushes opposite my house, but it was getting a right earful from the busy Blackbirds, so I got so close it took fright and flew off into the canopy of the higher trees, and into the quiet and away from the noise, where I do hope it then got a peaceful days sleep! But here I regularly see and hear many different owls, driving I often see Long Eareds and Little owls, but in the evening I usually get a visit from a Tawny, who sits on the top of the telegraph pole on the edge of my garden, and watches the late birds feeding and the bats flying around, for me the fascination is the silent flight, so if you see a movement out the corner of your eye and no sound then you can almost gurantee it being an owl! Nina.
 
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