Artificial nest - 2 young close to fledging

A series of images showing how young Long-eared's attempt to defend themselves while in the nest.

The eldest youngster quickly jumped up onto the rim of the nest tub & took up a defensive posture - ive noticed that on taking up this stance the birds initially close their eyes for a short spell - as if to confuse any would be predators.

who've we got here then......

 A closer view

After a few moments they settled down

Side on view - at this point, one of the adults flew into view - the youngster seemed to forget about his peace being interupted, a good time to head off & leave them to it.

Female sitting on rim of nest.

Leo ringing visit

This pair were visited recently, the young were too small for ringing. They are on average around 4 weeks behind compared with other birds in the County -

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Mr Grumpy
 (hes the middle one in the nest)

The smallest of the 3.
Cute isnt a word i thought id ever use on this blog...........

Many thanks to a local owler for the 2 images above.

heres a Little Owl :-

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and another 3 in a box - just about ready to go....

Rub-a-Dub-Dub - Owls in a Tub

An invitation to inspect a location with Long-eareds utilising an artificial nest Tub.

 

nest Tub in Scots Pine @ 40' above the ground

Two Long-eared Owlets in a sturdy & safe nest - these are used by a variety of other species, from Kestrel to Wood Pigeon !

These 2 remain from a clutch of 5 eggs - both were bill clacking, the large one rocking & swaying - after a few moments the small individual made a series of begging calls.

Other larger raptors use this area, & interestingly, the adult birds, although watching us, made no vocalisations at all - perhaps not wanting to draw any attention to themselves or the nest.

Also of note, the body plumage of these birds is more advanced than we usually find at this stage.

This tub contained 3 adult flight feathers

Two images showing comparison between Long-eared & Tawny feathers :-

Long-eared Left - Tawny Right

Tawny Left - Long-eared Right.

An interesting & informative visit - Many thanks to local nest-boxer JW.

young Asio otus in the nest

A short post with images from 3 widely spaced active Long-eared Owl nests taken on the same day last week in northern England.
We check these for progress with the goodwill & consent from landowners, prior to visits by licensed ringers.

Clutch of 5 eggs.

single egg and two small young, days old

two young about a week old

There is a slight variation in the timings here this year, but we have previously had branched young out by mid May in previous years.

Nest visits are done as carefully, quickly & discreetly as possible. I have never known any birds desert either while incubating or brooding.

We hope ringing & installation of motion activated cameras will go some way to discouraging thefts & interference, following on from disturbance of Little, Tawny & Long-eared Owl nests, where both eggs & young have been taken.

nesting Long-eared Owl

March has passed by in a flash - the few evening visits ive made produced regular flight displays & calling from Long-eareds, nothing particularly out of the ordinary although we have seemingly single unpaired male & female birds at 2 new locations.
The final outcome for what we presume to be 3 new pairs discovered over the winter, waits to be seen....

One local contact is in the enviable position of having a hunting Leo along the edge of their garden almost every evening as the light fades....

Our first incubating females are generally located on their old Crow or Magpie nests during the first few days of April - just before the Hawthorn buds burst, hiding them from view.... or that was the case...
The superb (is that really the right word ? - 'worryingly warm' may be more appropriate..) Spring weather has resulted in the thorns greening up quicker than ever this year, not forgetting our summer visiting birds all piling in early too.

None have been noted "sitting" untill yesterday

A quick check to see how things were progressing revealed only a single egg. They are as we suspected over a week behind their usual schedule - despite the warm weather.

On the approach the male tried his hardest not to be detected


If he was a Red Grouse at this point hed be saying "Go Back, Go Back, Go Back......"

Tremendous contortions as he twists his body, partly in an attempt to present more flank & wing camo patterning and also getting ready to head off.

Scoping from a distance a short while later she had returned & was once again sitting - although still slightly unsettled, lifting her head to look around - obscured digi-scoped image showing facial disc.
Within moments though, she settled down & all that was visible was the top of her head & ear tufts blowing in the breeze.

incubating female Long-eared Owl, old Magpies nest in mature Hawthorn tree

while the watch dog male kept an eye on us at all times

anxious male bird

Both sexes have an amazing repetoir of vocalisations, some of the males alarm calls very dog like.

male beginning to relax as we moved away

After this intusion we left the pair in peace, the male also quickly adopting a far more relaxed & contented profile

"And Dont Come Back !" - we wont for a good few weeks.

images & information from various local sources inc JS,WD, DK, MH, MD, JW, GS, AK et al - many thanks to all.