Owls Hooting

[appleander]

Hi, I was hoping someone could explain this...

I was at a country park this evening looking out for owls and around 4.30 I started hearing and seeing them (about 3 or 4 I saw). It was pretty dark but I could see one or two sitting high up and then flying off.

Then around 4.50 ish I realised all the hooting had stopped (there was a number of different hoots going on) and I could no long spot any owls.

I stayed till about half 5 but there was not one hoot.

So my question is... do owls wake up, hoot a little and sit on a branch before going into stealth mode, or would they have been hiding from me? I was rather discreet and they didnt seem to be bothered by me at first. Just seemed odd how they all just vanished.

[Dogghound]

The basic answer is yes, when they become active the call to help advertise their territory. They then hunt etc, calling still occurs through the night. It all varies with how sexually active they are and how advanced into the breeding season they are. This is assuming they are tawny owls? Are you sure that there were 4 different birds?