Short Eared Owls

Waltham · #1 (**permalink**) 28-11-2011, 09:09 PM

I live near the RSBP site at Pulborough and along with a number of others spent a couple of hours watching 4 of these beauties hunting over a fairly small area roughly a 1/4 mile square and coming within a few yards of us. We were about 1/2 mile south of the main site annd the ground was mainly wetland. If any one would like to see some photos go to www.howardkearly.com who was taking photos and gave me his card . He's good. Regards Luis

RobinP · #2 (**permalink**) 28-11-2011, 09:37 PM

Wow! Some great shots there. Seem to be a load of SEO's about this year.

Robin

mbaldw · #3 (**permalink**) 29-11-2011, 04:04 PM

Thanks for the link Waltham. I was up there on Saturday afternoon and there were three hunting, although sadly the light wasn't great so I didn't manage to get any usable shots. Do you know whether they're resident there all winter?

Cheers,
Marc.

p.s. Welcome to WAB.

Waltham · #4 (**permalink**) 29-11-2011, 04:57 PM

Hi, I,ve been asking thst question too and as yet haven't got a definate answer. My opinion was that if they are like barn owls they will stay as long as there is food and they don,t get bothered , but this is only my take on it . The bit I found interesting is that you only saw 3 on the Sat , Sun we saw 3 more or less straight away and the fourth appeared after 1/2 an hour. I'd also like to know if they are male and female and are they nesting there ? regards Waltham

mbaldw · #5 (**permalink**) 29-11-2011, 05:16 PM

Thanks for the info, Waltham. Reading the blog later on it seems that one of the birders who was down there with us startled a fourth on the ground on his walk back home later, so I guess there were four about.

Cheers,
Marc.

Dogghound · #6 (**permalink**) 29-11-2011, 05:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Waltham

Hi, I,ve been asking thst question too and as yet haven't got a definate answer. My opinion was that if they are like barn owls they will stay as long as there is food and they don,t get bothered , but this is only my take on it .

They differ from barn owls in that they are not as sedentary and tend not to occupy a territory all year. Barn owls will remain within the territory (home range), even when prey numbers decline. Only rarely in extreme conditions will they move, in respect to adults, 1st winters which have yet to establish a territory are move likely to move, but even these are highly sedentary in Britain. Short eared owls are more flexible and follow food abundances (often across Europe), however if there are large amounts of food available they will remain within the home range all year. If the local vole populations are high, the weather is good i.e. a lack of snow cover, they are not subject to disturbance and suitable roosting conditions occur close to the food source they often winter at a given location.

If you post some photo's I could sex them for you.

mbaldw · #7 (**permalink**) 29-11-2011, 05:47 PM

Interesting stuff - thanks Dogghound.

Cheers,
Marc.

Waltham · #8 (**permalink**) 01-12-2011, 04:39 PM

Hi all lots of good info. I spoke to one of the RSPB wardens And he agreed with doghound that they were probaly juviniles , were likely to stay subject to food etc. He said they were difficult to sex so if u can from the photos would be gratefull. I gave a link to the pro. photographer and if you click on "lates" on his website there are plenty of pics. Went down this morning at about 9am to see if they were about after the wet night and was rewarded by one who was quartering all around me and then pirched in a tree not 15 feet from me gave me a disdainfull look and then ignored me, so they seem ok in close proximity to humans, is this normal?

Dogghound · #9 (**permalink**) 01-12-2011, 06:25 PM

Its a 1st winter male.

.

A lot of migrants can be quite approachable presumably because they are not used to humans on their breeding grounds which are open and quite isolated such as moorland and tundra with little human interaction.