all day yesterday, Pauline was hearing a Tawny Owl calling in broad daylight.
Now this usually occurs if it is being mobbed....
but normally stops when it gets fed up and moves off.
Either this one had something to stick aroud for....
or whatever was rattling its cage wasn't very effective!
Then last night on our return from Yzeures...
see the previous post...
were three calling round us...
two males and one female.
They appeared to be flying around as they called...
and there was us thinking that we'd certainly got a pair...
Then less than twenty minutes ago...
I saw one of them!
Pauline is in the hangar [Dutch barn] sowing seeds...
I went to talk to her and just as we began talking...
a large Tawny left the Kestrel box I put up last year and flew across our orchard and vanished into our most wooded area.
That was at 1:10 PM French time...
a lovely sight...
but unfortunately the closest view for me only...
Pauline was concentrating on sowing and only heard the rustle and clip of its claws on the box as it left... she looked up to see it going away over the verger!!
No pix... no camera in hand
As we said in the nestbox post....
birds choose where they want to nest...
despite the best efforts of box builders!!
The box isn't being used as a roost...
Tawny Owls like to perch upright!!
And... going on the books, the box is the wrong shape entirely!!
However, they have been observed using old crow's nesting platforms...
we just hope that we've not disturbed "her"!
"She" must have been very nearby yesterday as well...
Pauline kept hearing a raptor call that sounded a bit like a buzzard...
but wasn't right...
and it was also, like the Kingfisher...
at a frequency that I can no longer hear*...
and she heard it again as the owl flew off.
-----------ooo000OOO{}OOO000ooo-----------
*I was all too aware of my loss of some frequencies last night...
there were calls that were inaudible to me... and others where I couldn't hear all that was described.
5 comments:
I don't think birds are very clever at where they nest. I have an example in the garden at the moment. I hope your owls choose a safe site at least. Amelia
Amelia, natural selection will take its course!!
Hi P&T, I'm so jealous of your
having an owl so near at hand.
She must be quite aware of your
frequent presence in the hangar
but must be willing to "put up"
with you. Isn't it always the way,
you build them that wonderful
derrick near the woods, and they
head for a place near human
activity. Did the kestrel raise
any young in that box?
Are any of the other boxes you
built occupied?
Nobody's used the kestrel box until now Sheila. The kestrel has been a spinster until she left suddenly. We think she's down the road at Moulin de Chevernay with a mate.
The owls have been a great revelation of the complexity of their lives and relationships.
The raptor call was a wretched pigeon. P.
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