Surreybirder
Ken Noble
Some notes on little owls (Athene noctua) around my home in Surrey, UK.
The area around my home in Hurst Green, Surry, provides good habitat for little owls with plenty of permanent pasture and mature oak trees. I am fortunate enough to see them frequently, and they are one of my favourite birds. When you get close to them you can see that the name ‘little’ is apt, for they are only about 8 inches tall. Sometimes, when viewed through binoculars they give the appearance of being somewhat bigger.
It is hard to determine the exact number of little owls present in my area due to their superb camouflage and their often crepuscular habits. Nor is it always clear when you see a little owl in a new location whether or not it represents a new territory. For example, during the autumn months I have seen several birds in places where I don’t regularly see them (including our neighbours’ garden), but most of these are probably young birds dispersing in search of new territories after being ‘evicted’ by their parents. There has been no significant change in local land use so presumably most of these wandering individuals eventually either displace existing territory-holding birds or succumb to the privations of winter. I have also seen family parties away from known nest sites but these could be instances of adult birds taking their young to suitable hunting ground in order to teach them how to forage for themselves.
During the last four years I have gradually become aware of more breeding territories but, for the reasons just given, suspect that the overall little owl population has not increased significantly. According to local farmers two nest sites have been occupied for many years, about 15 in one case. These two nest sites are within 400m of each other and a third is about 300m from one and 400 from the other. But this density of nesting is probably not typical of the area as--according to a study of mixed farmland in Warwickshire--a normal breeding territory averages about 95 acres (38hs) (British Birds Vol 73 No 4: “Breeding biology of the little owl” by D Glue and D Scott.)
In 2000 a pair produced at least one young in an oak tree near my home where I had not seen them previously (and where kestrels had bred the previous summer). The owls were present throughout the following winter but suddenly disappeared in March 2001. I thought that they might have been chased away or killed by tawny owls which nest quite close to the tree. But in September of that year I saw two birds together at dusk only about 250m further away from the tawnies. The little owls then occupied the original oak tree through the winter of 2001-02, only to disappear again on about 6 February 2002. I did not see them for nearly a year after that--although I am all but certain that I heard them in the nearby area—but then I saw one on the original nest tree on 31 January this year and a pair has been present since then. It is possible that the little owls’ territorial boundaries have not changed significantly but that the birds (or their offspring) may be fickle about their nesting and roosting sites. I have no evidence as to whether or not this mobility is related to the presence of the tawny owls
On one occasion, much to my surprise, I saw a little owl carrying a stick. As they nest in holes and do not build nests I was mystified as to what it was doing! An expert from the Hawk and Owl trust thought that it might have missed its intended target when hunting and picked up the stick instead. (Although I find the alternative postulation—that it might have been a young bird ‘playing’ at hunting in order to improve its technique—more appealing.) At the time I did not know of a nest site near to where this occurred. However, since then I have observed successful nesting only about 150 meters away, so the nest may well have been used in previous years.
I have occasionally been able to watch little owls hunting. Once an owl carried an earthworm to the nest tree in broad daylight. BWP Concise says that they “seldom if ever” hunt in daylight although a member of the Surreybirders yahoogroup said that he had often seen this behaviour and Jeff Wheatley, country recorder for Surrey, wrote: “As regards hunting hours, I think that the BWP Concise is probably wrong in saying that they seldom if ever hunt in daylight. My old favourite, The Handbook of British Birds, says that it hunts chiefly at dusk and early morning, but sometimes in broad daylight, especially when feeding young. This sounds much more plausible. Why else would they be seen so often in daylight hours?”. On one occasion I saw a bird attack a squirrel but I suspect that this was because it was near the nest site. I have also seen a little owl fly out at dusk and lunge with its feet at what must have been a bat, although it didn’t get close to catching its intended target.
My most recent sighting was a few days ago, in mid-April when I walked within about 20 feet of one in an oak tree. It flew off but I was soon able to relocated it as it was being mobbed by great and blue tits and chaffinches. It was crouching, in an almost horizontal posture, along a thin bough, perhaps two inches in diameter. I had never seen one in that posture before.
April 2003.
The area around my home in Hurst Green, Surry, provides good habitat for little owls with plenty of permanent pasture and mature oak trees. I am fortunate enough to see them frequently, and they are one of my favourite birds. When you get close to them you can see that the name ‘little’ is apt, for they are only about 8 inches tall. Sometimes, when viewed through binoculars they give the appearance of being somewhat bigger.
It is hard to determine the exact number of little owls present in my area due to their superb camouflage and their often crepuscular habits. Nor is it always clear when you see a little owl in a new location whether or not it represents a new territory. For example, during the autumn months I have seen several birds in places where I don’t regularly see them (including our neighbours’ garden), but most of these are probably young birds dispersing in search of new territories after being ‘evicted’ by their parents. There has been no significant change in local land use so presumably most of these wandering individuals eventually either displace existing territory-holding birds or succumb to the privations of winter. I have also seen family parties away from known nest sites but these could be instances of adult birds taking their young to suitable hunting ground in order to teach them how to forage for themselves.
During the last four years I have gradually become aware of more breeding territories but, for the reasons just given, suspect that the overall little owl population has not increased significantly. According to local farmers two nest sites have been occupied for many years, about 15 in one case. These two nest sites are within 400m of each other and a third is about 300m from one and 400 from the other. But this density of nesting is probably not typical of the area as--according to a study of mixed farmland in Warwickshire--a normal breeding territory averages about 95 acres (38hs) (British Birds Vol 73 No 4: “Breeding biology of the little owl” by D Glue and D Scott.)
In 2000 a pair produced at least one young in an oak tree near my home where I had not seen them previously (and where kestrels had bred the previous summer). The owls were present throughout the following winter but suddenly disappeared in March 2001. I thought that they might have been chased away or killed by tawny owls which nest quite close to the tree. But in September of that year I saw two birds together at dusk only about 250m further away from the tawnies. The little owls then occupied the original oak tree through the winter of 2001-02, only to disappear again on about 6 February 2002. I did not see them for nearly a year after that--although I am all but certain that I heard them in the nearby area—but then I saw one on the original nest tree on 31 January this year and a pair has been present since then. It is possible that the little owls’ territorial boundaries have not changed significantly but that the birds (or their offspring) may be fickle about their nesting and roosting sites. I have no evidence as to whether or not this mobility is related to the presence of the tawny owls
On one occasion, much to my surprise, I saw a little owl carrying a stick. As they nest in holes and do not build nests I was mystified as to what it was doing! An expert from the Hawk and Owl trust thought that it might have missed its intended target when hunting and picked up the stick instead. (Although I find the alternative postulation—that it might have been a young bird ‘playing’ at hunting in order to improve its technique—more appealing.) At the time I did not know of a nest site near to where this occurred. However, since then I have observed successful nesting only about 150 meters away, so the nest may well have been used in previous years.
I have occasionally been able to watch little owls hunting. Once an owl carried an earthworm to the nest tree in broad daylight. BWP Concise says that they “seldom if ever” hunt in daylight although a member of the Surreybirders yahoogroup said that he had often seen this behaviour and Jeff Wheatley, country recorder for Surrey, wrote: “As regards hunting hours, I think that the BWP Concise is probably wrong in saying that they seldom if ever hunt in daylight. My old favourite, The Handbook of British Birds, says that it hunts chiefly at dusk and early morning, but sometimes in broad daylight, especially when feeding young. This sounds much more plausible. Why else would they be seen so often in daylight hours?”. On one occasion I saw a bird attack a squirrel but I suspect that this was because it was near the nest site. I have also seen a little owl fly out at dusk and lunge with its feet at what must have been a bat, although it didn’t get close to catching its intended target.
My most recent sighting was a few days ago, in mid-April when I walked within about 20 feet of one in an oak tree. It flew off but I was soon able to relocated it as it was being mobbed by great and blue tits and chaffinches. It was crouching, in an almost horizontal posture, along a thin bough, perhaps two inches in diameter. I had never seen one in that posture before.
April 2003.
