Barn Owls (1 Viewer)

Very fortunate to have just witnessed 7 Barn Owls leaving their day time roost. The roost is a outbuilding on a Highland Estate.

The birds left over a 30 minute period. Most just flew out and were gone away East, presumably to hunt over the nearby river valley. Three took their time, moving around very close to the outbuilding, giving fantastic views from the car.

At one point, three were stood together in the doorway, seemingly not sure whether to stay in or go out. One of the three, which never moved very far from the outbuilding, did eventually return inside.

Presumably this is a family group of two adults and five juveniles. Nice to see they are doing so well in this part of the world.

Also nice to hear snipe drumming overhead.

What a fantastic experience, I was thinking as well it could be a family group. Something you'll never forget.

Great news and what an experience, especially in the light of how badly these birds were affected by last winter! :t:

you lucky man!
Mary

tracker said:

Great news and what an experience, especially in the light of how badly these birds were affected by last winter! :t:

Click to expand...

Here in North Devon it would seem we have only one pair left on Braunton Marsh/great field. In the barn where they breed we found a pile of bird wings, mostly Starlings but some Dunlin too. Presumably taken at night from a roost nearby during the last cold spell in December. Adapting to the harsh conditions by opportunistically exploiting another available food source? Once the breeding period is over I intend to collect the pellets to see if any bird rings have been ingested.