Dead Owl

shirl · #1 (**permalink**) 13-09-2011, 05:26 PM

Just found this at the bottom of our field, I think it's a tawny owl, can't see any obvious damage to it . Any ideas what might kill it and just leave it? I am really hoping that our neighbours aren't using poison to keep the rat populations down, we have rats and other rodents which the owls, kestrels and stoats rather enjoy. So sad.

Shirl

aeshna5 · #2 (**permalink**) 13-09-2011, 05:48 PM

A sad sight Shirl. I can confirm it's a Tawny Owl- let's hope it was a natural death rather than through secondary poisoning.

solus · #3 (**permalink**) 13-09-2011, 05:49 PM

As it's fresh, pick it up in a plastic bag, bung it in the freezer and then send it off for autopsy/analysis to the Predatory bird Monitoring Scheme.

Predatory Bird Monitoring Scheme - homepage
There's a number to ring on the homepage.

That way you'll know whether it's been poisoned or not.

Barry3 · #4 (**permalink**) 13-09-2011, 07:58 PM

Hi Shirl
I have used CEH several times they specialize in looking for poisons in birds of prey.After about a year they send you a report on their findings.
Barry

Dogghound · #5 (**permalink**) 13-09-2011, 08:55 PM

Yes its a tawny owl, however at this time of year when young disperse mortality is exeptionally high. A couple of reasons for this, 1st the fledgling bird is pretty much completely dependent on its parents for about 2-3months after it fledges where it stays within its parents territory and is fed by them. Then it is kicked out of the territory with very little hunting experience and must adapt quickly, not all birds manage to do this and starve. The 2nd reason it lack of territory, tawny owls have more or less much saturated most available habitat in Britain so territories are hard to come by, a young bird with no territory will quickly starve. Unfortunately lots of young tawny owls never reach breeding age (can be as high as 70% in some years) due to these two reasons.

Tawny owls are prone to secondary poisoning of chemicals such as bromadiolone and similar, despite not being prone to warfarin poisoning.

Can you take a close up shot of the wing? if its in good condition and I should be able to age it for you, although this will not diagnose why it died it may help.

shirl · #6 (**permalink**) 14-09-2011, 01:44 PM

Hi all

Many thanks for your responses, and I still feel really sad to see such a beautiful bird of prey dead, I really hope it is a young one where nature has taken it's toll. Will check out that predatory bird website although I have to say the freezer is absolutely full at the moment.

A couple of pics of it's wing just incase

Shirl

Just phoned the predatory bird number and they are sending out a box to get it to them, can't freeze it though it just will not go in the freezer. It's in a bag in a steel cabinet in a cool dark outbuilding

Dogghound · #7 (**permalink**) 14-09-2011, 02:16 PM

Its an adult bird, pretty hard to get an exact age from a picture, but certanly not one of this years. Will be interesting to see their cause of death.

shirl · #8 (**permalink**) 14-09-2011, 02:37 PM

That's a pity, it looks in fairly good condition too. The Predatory Bird person I spoke to did say they will let me know what they find, fingers crossed for natural causes. Hope the weather stays cool until I can send it off, might put some ice packs around it. Will report back when I hear from them.

Cheers

Shirl