Strong winds - affects on birds

[AfternoonLemon]

We've had extremely strong winds over the last few days here, strong enough to bring you to a temporary standstill if you're walking into it, and of course the birds have been struggling to manoeuvre through it too. The gulls seem quite adept at turning it to their advantage, obviously being a bit more used to these conditions, but others look like they're being thrown around all over the place.

The smaller birds seem to be lying low, quite wisely. I was just wondering, for the airborne predators such as Sparrowhawks - do they gain an advantage if their prey is struggling to move through the air? Or do you think they have an equally hard task trying to lock on to a target? Kestrels and owls must surely be at a disadvantage too, as their prey is typically on the ground and less affected by the wind - or you'd think that at least?

[JeffH]

Originally Posted by AfternoonLemon

......Kestrels and owls must surely be at a disadvantage too, as their prey is typically on the ground and less affected by the wind - or you'd think that at least?

I've spent quite a lot of time this week watching/photographing some of the Short-eared Owls currently around this area (Cambs) and it's been very noticeable that whilst the Kestrels seem to cope with the high/gusty winds quite well, the S-eOs seem content to remain in their ground roosting sites during these conditions.

On Friday afternoon none of the S-eOs currently present at one local site were seen in the air during a near two hour period, until one came up from a roadside ditch to see off a Red Kite flying overhead. But after a few minutes the S-eO went back to ground.

Jeff
(Schedule 1 Licence holder for Kingfishers, Barn Owls and Avocets)

[Ollie]

As I understand it although I could be wrong and stand to be corrected. Seo's don't like to hunt in wind as it affects the hearing making it more difficult to detect their prey.

[Wild-Woman]

Originally Posted by Ollie

As I understand it although I could be wrong and stand to be corrected. Seo's don't like to hunt in wind as it affects the hearing making it more difficult to detect their prey.

Makes sense Ollie, particularly if it means the owl burns up a lot of precious calories hunting for something that isn't where it thought it heard it!