Long ear or short eared owl

dodderangler

At about 6:45pm today I seen for the first time ever an owl flying over tallaght bypass
Just not sure if it was a short or long ear but was delighted to see non the less

Half-cocked

During daylight it is more likely to be short-eared. They are a wonderful sight.

V_Moth

Always nice to see owls! Hard to say which species it is if you only got a brief view of the one flying over the road. Some ID pointers:

-Long-eared Owl has a large yellowish patch on the underwing and a weakly barred tail. Our commonest owl species by far. .

-Short-eared Owl has completely white underwings and and a large yellow patch on the upperwing (smaller on LEO). Tail has two or three broad bars on it. . Generally scarce in Ireland.

cuddlycavies

i grew up in tallaght. only ever saw barn owls there

dodderangler

cuddlycavies wrote: »

i grew up in tallaght. only ever saw barn owls there

Never seen a barny here before
My dad found a dead owl in his job few years ago and wasn't a barn owl either
That was only time I heard of an owl in tallaght

cuddlycavies

very quiet and illusive and obviously because it's dark you rarely see them. But no reason why they wouldn't still be there. saw one over bancroft twice and once up near springfield. we used to assume they were in the COI bell tower but possibly not.

Birdnuts

dodderangler wrote: »

Never seen a barny here before
My dad found a dead owl in his job few years ago and wasn't a barn owl either
That was only time I heard of an owl in tallaght

I saw a Barn Owl near Browns Barn next to city west a few years back - so not too far from you.