Au revoir GG?

On Thursday I guided to Great Grey Owls for what will probably be the last time this season. The chosen bird was Miss Hissig, the unusually vocal female who has always made her presence known by bill snapping whilst we are more than 50m away. On Thursday she had also added a rather menacing growling to her repertoire and this may have been due to the presence of a fairly large young on the nest. We kept a respectable distance and didn’t place ourselves between the female who was perched high in a pine about 25m from the nest and the nest itself. There was also the possibility that there was a young on the ground and should one approach such a bird too close then the chances are very high that the female will attack (it is this instinct that ringers use to catch the adult females with a large net). We clearly chose an acceptable spot to stand as she soon became quiet although any noise or perhaps movement elsewhere in the forest could attract her attention and start a series of growls and snaps.

We hoped to see the male arriving with food but early afternoon was never going to be the best time although at one stage the youngster became very animated and started calling excitedly which I felt certain was going to prelude dad flying in (mum had also looked excited) but nothing happened. The young which had been out of sight when we arrived became more and more active during our stay so was I assume getting hungry. It also rained briefly which I thought would cause mum to fly to the nest to cover the young but that did not happen either. This female really is a strange beast but it hasn’t stopped her, or perhaps more importantly her mate who brings the food, from raising a youngster to very close the jumping out of the nest stage in a year where voles are clearly in short supply.

The excited calling from the nest at one stage sounded like it was coming from two birds so the single large bird we saw may also have a smaller, younger, sibling that was not yet large enough to peer over the edge of the nest platform.

The video included sequences of mum bill snapping and growling (good speakers may be necessary to hear this) and the youngster calling excitedly.

I am very excited to see how this winter and spring of next year will pan out. If vole numbers crash then we could see Great Grey and other owls spreading around looking for food and then we may be lucky enough to have an owl winter around Oslo. Should this happen though then the chances of spring 2027 being good for singing and breeding owls is low. Vole numbers may however hold up for another season meaning next spring is similar to this, i.e owls breeding but at low densities and with few young. Only time will tell.