long eared owl behaviour

amandstu

I saw this today and was pretty surprised but I am guessing it is fairly normal.

These owls have been nesting for a few months now (audibly that is) and I have been straining to actually see them emerge from the trees.

Yesterday was my first proper sighting and then today I noticed what you could almost call a swarm of swallows (I think) circling around the trees at the same time as the owls were screeching their best.

I noticed this a few times and then I saw about 4 of the owls leave the trees with a few of the swallows following them .

About 50 yards ,say from the trees they met another inflying owl which I realised was probably the mother.

As they met up I could see that the mother dropped what she had in her mouth and one of the young owls snappped it out of the air(dinner obviously).

Putting 2 and 2 together I deduced that the swallows have been pestering the owl family and are trying to get the food that the parents are bringing back to the nest (although the young owls were just as large as the mother and I don't see why they are so dependent on her for food now)

Anyway it was certainly quite a sight .
Does my reasoning hold up?

By the way could these owls provide an explanation as to why there have been hardly any bird losses from my strawberry beds this year ? (I have been putting off netting them onto the long finger but have not been made to suffer)

Zoo4m8

First question, are you sure they are owls? Long ears are quite nocturnal and to see them during the day would be unusual . Could they be buzzards? I have seen them pass prey to youngsters as you describe and the young can be quite noisy!
The swallows are mobbing them, they are very quick to spot any bird of prey in their area and will quickly attempt to move them on. We have Kestrels in the area and anytime they pass anywhere near the outhouses the swallows use all hell breaks loss!
The young of most birds of prey have to learn to hunt so they will stick with the parents probably into the autumn while they learn to hunt for themselves .
The fact that your strawberries have survived would not be as a result of the presence of owls or buzzards in your area , it's probably just coincidence , though if you had a sparrow hawk or cat visiting your garden regularly the resident birds would, after a couple of losses, keep a low profile.
You are very lucky to have these birds so close to you and I think you should keep the location to yourself as much as possible as unfortunately there are people out there who don't view birds of prey in the same light as the rest of us!
Hope this all helps.

amandstu

Well it has taken me months to see them come out of the trees even though I can hear them intermittently throughout the day .

I understand that the short eared owl is more likely than the long eared to appear in the day but these seem to me to be pretty retiring if it takes me so long to see them directly.

I had a look at a buzzard video and the call (as the buzzard prepares to land on food) is different as is the appearance (are they bigger also?).

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

amandstu wrote: »

I saw this today and was pretty surprised but I am guessing it is fairly normal.

These owls have been nesting for a few months now (audibly that is) and I have been straining to actually see them emerge from the trees.

Yesterday was my first proper sighting and then today I noticed what you could almost call a swarm of swallows (I think) circling around the trees at the same time as the owls were screeching their best.

I noticed this a few times and then I saw about 4 of the owls leave the trees with a few of the swallows following them .

About 50 yards ,say from the trees they met another inflying owl which I realised was probably the mother.

As they met up I could see that the mother dropped what she had in her mouth and one of the young owls snappped it out of the air(dinner obviously).

Putting 2 and 2 together I deduced that the swallows have been pestering the owl family and are trying to get the food that the parents are bringing back to the nest (although the young owls were just as large as the mother and I don't see why they are so dependent on her for food now)

Anyway it was certainly quite a sight .
Does my reasoning hold up?

By the way could these owls provide an explanation as to why there have been hardly any bird losses from my strawberry beds this year ? (I have been putting off netting them onto the long finger but have not been made to suffer)

Lots in this. Assuming it is long eared owls - which I have nesting in my own garden - then the swallows are just mobbing what they see as a bird of prey and a threat. It has nothing to do with food as Swallows eat insects while the owls take small mammals and suchlike.
Like most birds of prey the owls will pass food in the air but the parent should have been carrying it in it's talons and not in it's mouth while in flight.
As for the Strawberries- just a coincidence. It has been a great year for strawberries!

amandstu

I thought it was from the mouth.Could it have been that the mother was surprised at the commotion? It didn't look like she was passing the food -more like it fell out of her mouth and was caught by one of the young owls (I am assuming it was a mother/father + younger owls but they were all the same size)

There were only half a dozen or so of the swallows in proximity but it looked to me as if the young birds were in some kind of upset.It was certainly the only time I have seen them leave the trees in a group.

As I said there were a very large amount of the swallows actually in the trees just before the owls made their sortie. It reminded me almost of a swarm.

amandstu

I have seen them again.They seem to be coming more into the open.The same thing happened with the transfer of food from parent to young.

This time I was able to pay proper attention and the food was , as Srameen suggested being held in the talons.

That makes me think the the parent was not startled by the swallows (on the previous occasion) and I realise also that the swallows were not interested in the food.

I think I may also have seen one of the owls giving the bum's rush to a magpie.Would that be likely? It approached the magpie and there was a very brief squark whereupon the magpie made off.