Tawny Owl

After spending so much time this winter watching Great Grey Owls it was a very pleasant surprise to see a Tawny Owl well today and be reminded that it too is a pretty cool bird.

I used to have a couple of nest sites for Tawny Owl in Maridalen but after the long and cold winter of 2017/18 when many Tawny Owls died I only had a single record of the species in 2018 and two in 2019 and these were sound records only. This year it has therefore been very satisfying to discover two nest boxes in use and a singing bird at a third site although I have still had no birds at my previous two reliable sites. It is surprising that things seems to be going well for Tawny Owl whereas there is no sign that the Great Grey Owls have even thought of breeding. It will therefore be interesting to see whether any young Tawny Owls fledge later in the spring.

All the nesting Tawny Owls that I have ever found in Maridalen are in nest boxes. There are MANY nest boxes of all sizes in Maridalen including a number that are suitable for Tawny Owl/Goldeneye/Goosander. I have no idea who it is who has done this wonderful and important job of first making and then putting up so many boxes but they deserve praise. From the different ages and designs of the various boxes there must be at least 4 different people who deserve recognition. I applaud you whoever you are 👏👏

Yesterday there were a few flocks of Pink-footed Geese migrating north but I saw none today. There are very few other signs of migration despite the winds being from the south but a flock of 25 Starlings on a field today was the first time I have seen them in double figures and they also contained a single Mistle Thrush and 8 Fieldfare which gave a small taste of things to come.

It is not often one gets to see a Tawny Owl (kattugle) so well. Note the black eyes which are so different to the yellow eyes of Great Grey Owl.

Mistle Thrush (duetrost)

Starling (stær) flock which also contains the Mistle Thrush and Fieldfare. All fields in Maridalen are still very brown and unappealing but this will change once we have some rain but there is unfortunately none being forecast