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Short Eared Owl on breeding grounds. (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter trw
- Start date
Nutcracker
Stop Brexit!
Around here, there often seems to be two waves of birds turning up on the east coast, one in August, and another in October. Adults and juveniles, perhaps? Given their extinction as a breeder on the local grouse moors, I'm guessing these are coming in from Scandinavia, but some could perhaps be from Scotland.
Sure they weren't shot out before they'd finished breeding?
The RSPB has a map of the UK distribution of Short-eared Owls here.
This year, in Osaka, Japan, at a piece of scrubland along the river right in the city, there was a group of 12 Short-eared Owls that came for the winter. There was a lot of interest. Photo 1: looking right. Photo 2: looking left (the twelve owls spread out which was thoughtful of them).
We went twice (about 90 minutes each way). At least a few of the owls could always be seen sitting around, so the time wasn't wasted, but they didn't always fly when the light was good enough for sighting.
The first time we went, the owls didn't fly at all before darkness. The second time two owls flew for a total of about thirty seconds at around 3:30, so we all got optimistic. But they didn't fly again before dusk. Presumably, when breeding they would be a lot more active.
As you can see from the photos, there were a lot of people, but the owls seemed to be cool about that. Some people went almost every day for six months, and got some great photos (e.g. pairs of birds flying, one from the back, one from the front, in the snow), but spending half a daylight year in a place like this for just a few photos is not my idea of fun.
This year, in Osaka, Japan, at a piece of scrubland along the river right in the city, there was a group of 12 Short-eared Owls that came for the winter. There was a lot of interest. Photo 1: looking right. Photo 2: looking left (the twelve owls spread out which was thoughtful of them).
We went twice (about 90 minutes each way). At least a few of the owls could always be seen sitting around, so the time wasn't wasted, but they didn't always fly when the light was good enough for sighting.
The first time we went, the owls didn't fly at all before darkness. The second time two owls flew for a total of about thirty seconds at around 3:30, so we all got optimistic. But they didn't fly again before dusk. Presumably, when breeding they would be a lot more active.
As you can see from the photos, there were a lot of people, but the owls seemed to be cool about that. Some people went almost every day for six months, and got some great photos (e.g. pairs of birds flying, one from the back, one from the front, in the snow), but spending half a daylight year in a place like this for just a few photos is not my idea of fun.
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Andy Adcock
Worst person on Birdforum
I asked about this in 'birds and birding' but got no reply.
Specifically, how soon after fledging do the young move? We have a healthy population near our home in St Petersburg Russia but were a week or so later than usual going to see them. We haven't seen any in two visits this year (by mid Jul) and wondered if they've moved already?
Last year we had lovely views of two young birds sitting on a branch in a ditch practicing to fly.
Andy
Specifically, how soon after fledging do the young move? We have a healthy population near our home in St Petersburg Russia but were a week or so later than usual going to see them. We haven't seen any in two visits this year (by mid Jul) and wondered if they've moved already?
Last year we had lovely views of two young birds sitting on a branch in a ditch practicing to fly.
Andy
