Tuesday 25 February 2020

Half-Term Owls and a Murmuration

In the winter of 2010 we had snow on the ground for several weeks, and the Barn Owls had difficulty finding enough food, and many of them starved to death.  Barn Owls in our area have never recovered to their pre-2010 numbers.  However, they have been recovering in numbers slowly ever since.  Several people have commented that Barn Owls must be doing very well because sightings of hunting birds have become more common.  However, I believe we are seeing more Barn Owls at the moment because they are once again having difficulty finding enough prey during the night.  The problem this time is the almost constant strong winds and the frequent downpours.  When the rain is heavy the Barn Owl cannot hunt because their feathers lose their silent quality when they are impregnated with water.  They do a lot of their hunting by listening for the rustling of voles and mice in the long tangled grass.  However, when it is blowing a gale the rustling of the voles can no longer be isolated from the rustling caused by the wind.  In these circumstances the Owl have to come out more in the daylight as they try and hunt for voles by sight instead.  
Barn Owl - I struck lucky when this one decided to land very close to where I was parked.
 Hunting at Burton Constable
 ditto
 ditto
 ditto

 Almost too close
 ditto
 ditto

 Moving On
 Short-eared Owl
 ditto
 ditto 
 Checking out the Kestrel
 ditto
 ditto
 ditto
 Barn Owl - dozing?

 Following a Vole's Squeak



 Nearby Buzzard
 Start of a Murmuration
 Sea Monster
 ditto
 Large Gathering
 Industrial Backdrop
 Whale's Tail
 Almost Filling the Sky
 Against the Sunset
 ditto
 ditto
 Whale

 Waves

 Distant Hills
 Silbury Hill?
 Hill Collapses
 Over the Water
 Under the Poplars




 Simply Weird

No comments: