Little Ghost

An interesting one............

Albino Little Owl

this years youngster from a pair in Durham City District

I would be keen to hear from anyone who has an info on others in UK (I have searched without success)

Three from Five

Our first Long-eared Owl pulli of the year on todays ringing & nest inspection visits.

 Feisty ! Lunging, bill clacking & spreading developing wings - all part of their defensive strategy.

 nicely settled down ready for rings to go on

processed & ready to go back up the tree

 several Kes clutches of 6

 The Dunce hiding in the corner.

 Who ya lookin at ?

Clutch of 5 eggs & a good cache of mammal prey.

Tawny Owls doing well in the caviy

Familiarity breeds...

Ive wandered around OFFH (on foot from home) on & off for a decade.
Winter is The Season here, we're Spoilt rotten. The Five, along with another 105 bird species by the end of January means there's always something to look for.
This year I thought I'd pay attention to some lesser known paths & see what surprises lay unfound.
Despite strong coverage, we still manage to turn up new pairs of Leos every couple of years, & keep an open mind as landscapes change & evolve.
However, a seemingly conspicuous & easily located bird like Little Owl.... well you'd presume they were all bagged & tagged by now...
Close to the very well known Bog, there are several Parts unknown & these have looked "super-owly" in passing.
 A recent recce found asio pellets along the fenceline & a single Bigg Luggs in Elderscrub close by.
The same visit produced a Woodcock feeding out in the open, which I managed to photograph. (link below).
This "finding" is what motivates me & I planned to come back over.
A week later & I was back in the same area, I had a Jack Snipe on the ground, but stepped back to enable a photo & put up another which i nearly trod on. Both vanished...
Surely a good omen, Woodcock last time, Jack Snipe this - I dreamed of a big Leo roost along the way...
The woods proved to be not so fruitful & I headed up a hedgerow. Approaching a fine Ash I looked up to be met with a very disgruntled Little Owl. His mate sat in a crack in the next tree along.
You could have blown me over, I've been past here with the family & never gave it a glance - what a surprise a new pair of Littles.
With 50 or more pairs in this 10km sq, I thought we'd found a good few, especially pleased with this being only about a mile or so from home.
I managed a digi-binned picture & its gone down well on Flickr with 9,000 views in a few days !
https://www.flickr.com/photos/16718162@N06/15654704173/in/photostream/player/"




So hopefully there'll be less familiarity & more owls in the coming year.



https://www.flickr.com/photos/16718162@N06/16222367935/

Long overdue

Thought i'd have a go at resurrecting this blog


hopefully things can only improve by re-starting on a low note

this one looks like it simply fell of its perch

Luckily there were several more close by.

Heres a couple of random Little & Tawny shots from past few weeks :-

A Little Lovin'

A class, flat calm, mild, sunny Durham day

Got finished quick sharp

& off to a country lane hoping for any one of the 5....

Little Owl straight off - within moments the male flew over calling in flight & his mate flew down to join him...

and within seconds he was on the job...

and just before the dismount :-

shortly 2 more watched calling from this same spot

a big bright moon this evening

Short scary visit

I stopped on the way home to watch a Shorty having fun with a Crow the owl rising effortlessly to @ 200' to evade the corvid.

As I watched someone dropped out of the tree right overhead..... frightening the life out of me!!! Before making off along the lane , - a Little Owl ! - it must have been getting his own back for me scaring it's mate on the rockface !

Obscured Owls

young Little from July

 

Little Owl enjoying the morning sun

Young Barn Owl roosting late afternoon.

Big Wind, Little Owl

Dont know how those folk manage on the other side of the Atlantic....
we only get the very tail end of their weather & it brings death & destruction...

Yesterday the gales abated somewhat and it was realy quite pleasant out of the breeze, particularly in the warm sun - this brought out a number of butterfly including Red Admiral, Wall, Small Tortoishell, Small Copper & Speckled Wood, with a small number of Darters & Hawkers in the damper spots.

They werent the only ones out in the sunshine - a family of Little Owls had found a nice sheltered spot & were basking in the warmth.

Every now & then the 2 youngsters would drop onto the ground for items before returning to roost blissfully in the sun with very heavy eyes.

Sitting so conspiciously they drew the attention of several passing species which alarmed & mobbed them to various degrees - Yellowhammer, Robin, Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Blackbird & Willow Tit all in attendance - with the Blackbird im not sure if it was a case of the owl being mobbed or the thrush being hunted !, as the Little flapped about & clambered through the scrub. (  twice we've noted local Blackbird as a LO prey item )

The adults were far more active & attentive - not allowing as close an approach.
A Collared Dove came in to land close to the family, but had an adult owl on its tail before it had chance to touch down - they appear to be feisty little things at times.

 

Very soon the excitement was over, a quick call to reassure the youngsters & it was time for another 40 winks.....

Postscript:
This was towards the edge of their territory & exactly the spot were they had tried to nest before a box was supplied for them.
The previous attempt failed & the owls disappeared for a good while (a single reappeared within the year, but it was 18 month before a pair were re-established in the territory) after the rabbit hole they were using was mistakenly dug out by terrier-men.
I wouldnt have thought it would be long before the youngsters are leaving to try to find their own home ranges....

Mix of pics LEO, LO, BO

Image from Plawsworth at dusk from DK; Two of the young Long-eareds we ringed earlier in the year, getting ready for a night out. Ring visible on this stretching bird - a right old daddy long-legs hes turned out to be !

One of this years young Barn Owls outside his roost, checking for the all clear before setting out at dusk.

adult Little Owl on a limestone cliff.

a couple of owl pics

adult Little Owl keeping a watch over his young as they explore away from the nest area


a sad end for one local Tawny Owl

Sadly a dead Tawny on the A690 - found by Jonnystretch

On a far happier note :-

The eldest of a brood of 3 young Long-eareds

A short clip showing the 3 young reacting to a Wood Pigeon clattering past close by:-

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Another short clip showing the 3 youngsters as the light fades

 

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This clutch were delayed by 4 weeks c/p other local breeding pairs.
Theyve been out of the nest @ 5 weeks, and fly strongly, although landing's are often more like crashes ! They tend to keep to the open canopy of decidious species, Oak, Birch & in this case Ash which allows easier

still dependant upon their parents at this stage - although the this bird made a few clumbsy attempts at catching small items as the light faded.
One of his siblings flew within 15' of me after the light had gone with all manner of head bobbing, twisting & posturing, to check out the rustling from a hedgehog in the undergrowth.

Quite pleased with this iPhone scoped image :-

 

adult resting in the afternoon sunshine - by late August through to October we tend not to see much of them.

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....