Unknown night bird

[Meles meles]

Hi all,

Last night was up at Boxhill, surrey. I went for a walk at about two to a bridge that i reguarly go to watch badgers etc.
Any way down swooped a very large sillouette of a bird and flew above to a tree behind me.
Its calls sounded similar to a tawny but as it flew above me i could not happen to notice that its wing span looked bigger than a heron or something similar known to have large wing spans.
and its main body appeared to be quite big. It glided gracefully and flapped quietly. Certainly made its presence known. Even the mammals on the floor looked up as it came down

Sorry not being a bird person I could not tell you much more, Curious though cos i have not seen something of that size in the area before.

cheers

[Dan Salter]

Hmmm?...could have been one of the long or short eared owls? or.....have the European Eagle owls found their way to surrey? i doubt it but we can only hope...

Ill let the pro birders tell you what it actually was likely to be though...

[John]

Well now, what on earth can this be. A Heron's wing size is up to 175cm which is roughly the same size as an Eagle Owl). Our largest Owl is the Short-eared Owl at up to 105cm.

To put it into perspective The Common Buzzard is only up to 132cm, Red Kite up to 165cm and the Long-eared Owl at only 98cm at its largest but if I were to put a bet on it I would go for either Canada or Greylag Goose.

They will fly back from the fields in darkness so there is a good chance that it is one of those that you saw.

John

[Meles meles]

John - As i said I am not an expert on birds but if i may argue your suggestions;
It perched more or less above me (thankfully a bright moon helped) and it made a very loud "hoot" noise similar to that of a tawny.
Very rarely see geese of any description at boxhill, and the way it swooped down on the field.
Sorry not much help

I will try to locate owl tunes on the net, may by chance hear something similar.

Thanks for your help, and my lesson for today on birds.

[colinaj]

Long eared owls often call "Boo Boo" which is similar to the "Twoo Twoo" of Tawny Owl. I once saw a tawny owl near my street one night and I too was surprised at the wing span so could be Tawny Owl.

[Meles meles]

Addition; Have checked a site for owl calls, I already knew that there is Little and tawnys there, having heard the calls for short and long eared the call i heard still does not similarise with any of the mentioned owls.

Going by you measurements, thanks. Still say it appeared as big as a heron. Is it possible an eagle owl has arrived to this neck of the world?? Actualy my mum (asheleaf on wab) once was sure that she had seen one as well in the mentioned area (cpl months ago). Cant find a site to listen to the call of a eagle owl but will continue to look

well confused

[John]

You never mentioned the fact that it perched in your opening post. If you had then I would not have suggested Geese.

You give a size and I give you all the birds around that size. The only Owl that comes close to that size is the Eagle Owl.

Following is an extract out of my BWPi programme that gives a full explanation of what an Eagle Owl sounds like.

Freely used in breeding season, less so at other times. Repertoire highly complex, with much individual variation. Advertising-call of ♂ a deep, sonorous, booming ‘buho’ or ‘oohu’, with emphasis on 1st syllable, and pitch descending to 2nd. Although rather soft and muffled, carries up to 1.5 km, exceptionally 4 km. Repeated monotonously, typically at intervals of 8–10 s. Very variable in pitch, volume, timbre, and rhythm, allowing individual recognition. ♀’s call an ‘u-hu’ or ‘uh-ju’; slightly higher pitched than ♂; 2nd syllable about same pitch as 1st of ♂. Not so far-carrying as ♂’s call but used in same contexts, notably in duets with ♂ and to repel rival ♀♀. Excitement-call a rapidly repeated and descending ‘hohohoho …’ (♂) and higher-pitched ‘huhuhuhu …’ (♀), often referred to as giggling or laughing. Alarm-call a sharp croaking ‘gräck’, like Grey Heron; startlingly loud, ♂’s call deeper than ♀’s.

They don't sound like a Tawny Owl but do sound a bit similar to Long Eared Owl so if you say it doesn't sound like any of the Owls you mentioned then I am at a loss to suggest what it is.

John

Originally Posted by Meles meles

John - As i said I am not an expert on birds but if i may argue your suggestions;
It perched more or less above me (thankfully a bright moon helped) and it made a very loud "hoot" noise similar to that of a tawny.
Very rarely see geese of any description at boxhill, and the way it swooped down on the field.
Sorry not much help

I will try to locate owl tunes on the net, may by chance hear something similar.

Thanks for your help, and my lesson for today on birds.

[Wild-Woman]

Perhaps it's an escapee from a collection.

[Oscar2006]

In my humble experience everything appears bigger in the dark,
so it could quite easily have been a Tawny Owl.
Also, we tend to want these sightings to be something special, so we quickly ignore what it is most likely to be and try to make it fit the description of something else.

I also have problems trying to put names to anything that somebody else sees, as it is difficult to extract the information from somebody elses brain that mine will understand.

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by Oscar2006

In my humble experience everything appears bigger in the dark,
so it could quite easily have been a Tawny Owl.
Also, we tend to want these sightings to be something special, so we quickly ignore what it is most likely to be and try to make it fit the description of something else.

I also have problems trying to put names to anything that somebody else sees, as it is difficult to extract the information from somebody elses brain that mine will understand.

that is what I thought too,
although was it definately owl shaped could it have been a disturbed buzzard or red kite?