On 20/11/05 20:01, in article , "Kate
Morgan" wrote:


In that case, we have three types of owl around the place - this one, the
Little Owl and whatever it is that's screeching. Lovely!

Barn owl, then, or if it's a sort-of Keeee-vit!, a tawny owl.

This has been a very interesting thread and I have put lots of new
links in my owl folder :-)
Last night in the dark something screeched very loudly at me and I
dropped a bucket of cold water all over me feet, not very funny,
certainly made me jump :-)
kate

Ray tells the story of his family having a young girl and her parents to
stay. One night, he took the dogs out for their last stroll, it was
moonlit, with clouds drifting across the sky and he walked with her towards
the church, through the garden, telling her the tale of the Hound of the
Baskervilles because they'd looked at the Baskerville grave in our
churchyard that morning. Suddenly, an owl flew past them and a dog down in
the valley gave out a great howl. Ray looked round ten seconds later and
she'd disappeared. When he returned to the house, she was shivering in her
chair and her parents asked him accusingly what on earth he'd been telling
her!
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)

"Bob Hobden" wrote in message
...

"Sacha" wrote after "Bob Hobden" replied

The male Tawny Owl makes a hooting sound as above.
The male Barn Owl screeches.
The male Long Eared Owl make a very soft hooooting call with spaces
between.
Hooo......Hooo.......Hooo.....
The male Short-Eared Owl make a hooting sound that sounds more like
it's
laughing. Hoo Hoo Hoo......
The Little Owl I would neither call a screech or a hoot, more like..
graaap.. gradually rising and getting louder until the p which is a
higher
single note, and the danger call is like a Blackbirds.

Then I don't think we've got Little Owls at all. I think those must be
the
Tawny Owl. I've never got a close look at those and I don't think Ray
has,
either. But does the Tawny Owl call in the day time, too? What we've
always thought were Little Owls seem to call at all times of day and
certainly not at night only. In fact, they seem to prefer calling when
it's just getting light in the morning or from about 2pm onwards, though
I
have heard them at other times.

Just to confuse the issue, Tawny Owls tend to stay under cover until dark
but the introduced Little Owls are known to be active by day as are the
Short Eared Owls.
However, if the birds are hoo...hooting they are not Little Owls, only the
Tawny (the classic owl sound of films etc) and the Little and Long Eared
Owls make a hoo type sound.


How would you describe the call of the Eagle Owl? Sacha might have some
around, but I expect she'd have noticed ....

"martin" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 18 Nov 2005 17:08:36 -0000, "BAC"
wrote:


"martin" wrote in message
.. .
On Fri, 18 Nov 2005 14:43:31 -0000, "shazzbat"
wrote:


Your bird could have been resident, or a winter visitor pining for
the
fjords.

If it saw the program about Eagle Owls on BBC two nights ago, it could
be asking for asylum.

No - it should be safe from the 'Men in Black' anti-alien squad of the
conservation lobby, as even they accept the species is 'native', don't
they?

According to the program, the problem is that "they" don't. Even worse
when they have finished eating all the rabbits, the eagle owls will
gobble up corn crakes and even hedgehogs. Isn't nature awful?


I doubt whether Eagle Owls would manage to eat all the rabbits, but if they
were living in an area where rabbits were not plentiful, for some reason,
they would undoubtedly take whatever else was available to them.

Nature is ruthless, yes, but not cruel IMO.

Talking of ruthless, perhaps the anti-cat brigade should try to attract
Eagle Owls into their gardens. They could even try GM breeding, importing
some parrot genes, so the mutant owls could be trained to sit on the roof
and call 'here, kitty kitty' :-)

The message
from "BAC" contains these words:

How would you describe the call of the Eagle Owl? Sacha might have some
around, but I expect she'd have noticed ....

It's a rather soft 'ooooo', and a stronger 'keck keck'.

--
Rusty
horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co full-stop uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

The message
from "BAC" contains these words:

According to the program, the problem is that "they" don't. Even worse
when they have finished eating all the rabbits, the eagle owls will
gobble up corn crakes and even hedgehogs. Isn't nature awful?


I doubt whether Eagle Owls would manage to eat all the rabbits, but if they
were living in an area where rabbits were not plentiful, for some reason,
they would undoubtedly take whatever else was available to them.

Yes, they'll even (allegedly) take roe deer, so they're unlikely to run
out of grub and resort to hedgehogs.

--
Rusty
horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co full-stop uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

"martin" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 21 Nov 2005 11:22:52 -0000, "BAC"
wrote:


"martin" wrote in message
.. .
On Fri, 18 Nov 2005 17:08:36 -0000, "BAC"
wrote:


"martin" wrote in message
.. .
On Fri, 18 Nov 2005 14:43:31 -0000, "shazzbat"
wrote:


Your bird could have been resident, or a winter visitor pining
for
the
fjords.

If it saw the program about Eagle Owls on BBC two nights ago, it
could
be asking for asylum.

No - it should be safe from the 'Men in Black' anti-alien squad of the
conservation lobby, as even they accept the species is 'native', don't
they?

According to the program, the problem is that "they" don't. Even worse
when they have finished eating all the rabbits, the eagle owls will
gobble up corn crakes and even hedgehogs. Isn't nature awful?


I doubt whether Eagle Owls would manage to eat all the rabbits, but if
they
were living in an area where rabbits were not plentiful, for some reason,
they would undoubtedly take whatever else was available to them.

The program gave MYXOMATOSIS as something that might make eagle owls
look elsewhere for food.

Quite possibly. I've noticed that buzzards can be a good indicator of which
warren systems have succumbed, since the birds seem everpresent when the
rabbits are plentiful, and seldom seen when they're not. I expect it would
be similar for any other 'rabbit predator', they'd either modify their
patrols to areas with more rabbits, or seek alternative food, probably a
combination of the two.



Nature is ruthless, yes, but not cruel IMO.

Talking of ruthless, perhaps the anti-cat brigade should try to attract
Eagle Owls into their gardens. They could even try GM breeding, importing
some parrot genes, so the mutant owls could be trained to sit on the roof
and call 'here, kitty kitty' :-)

LOL

Aren't the anti-cat brigade inbred/GM enough already? :-)

Some of them do strike me as a trifle obsessive, but, fortunately, I don't
have to put up with anything like the same scale of cat problems they
report, so I'll reserve judgement on them.

On 21/11/05 11:13, in article , "BAC"
wrote:

snip
How would you describe the call of the Eagle Owl? Sacha might have some
around, but I expect she'd have noticed ....


I think even I might have taken that one on board! ;-)
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)

"Sacha" wrote in message
.uk...
On 21/11/05 11:13, in article , "BAC"
wrote:

snip
How would you describe the call of the Eagle Owl? Sacha might have some
around, but I expect she'd have noticed ....


I think even I might have taken that one on board! ;-)

Yes, if you were to see one fairly close up, I'm sure it would make an
impression. I saw one once on a neighbour's roof and it was, well, just
massive. That wasn't a wild bird, though, it had gone 'flyabout' from a
chap's collection.

Did you say you were located close to Dartmoor? If so, that would seem just
the sort of country which might harbour the odd escapee, or descendent of
escapee, or immigrant from the continent. If you wanted to see a (captive)
Eagle Owl, I think they have at least one at the Dartmoor Hawking falconry
school at North Bovy.

On 21/11/05 14:37, in article , "BAC"
wrote:


"Sacha" wrote in message
.uk...
On 21/11/05 11:13, in article , "BAC"
wrote:

snip
How would you describe the call of the Eagle Owl? Sacha might have some
around, but I expect she'd have noticed ....


I think even I might have taken that one on board! ;-)

Yes, if you were to see one fairly close up, I'm sure it would make an
impression. I saw one once on a neighbour's roof and it was, well, just
massive. That wasn't a wild bird, though, it had gone 'flyabout' from a
chap's collection.

Did you say you were located close to Dartmoor? If so, that would seem just
the sort of country which might harbour the odd escapee, or descendent of
escapee, or immigrant from the continent. If you wanted to see a (captive)
Eagle Owl, I think they have at least one at the Dartmoor Hawking falconry
school at North Bovy.


Yes, we're very close to Dartmoor. Our nearest town is Ashburton, 2.5 miles
away and that is within the bounds of the National Park. We're just the
other side of the A38 from there, between Ashburton and Totnes.
Before I married Ray, I lived in a village called Stokeinteignhead and there
was a chap there who did owl rescue in a small way but he didn't have an
eagle owl for me to admire, unfortunately. He and a neighbour made the
national news by going out independently at night to record owl sounds.
After some weeks, they discovered they were happily recording each
other......... ;-)
We gave my step daughter a day's falconry at somewhere in north Devon -
might be the one you mention.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)

Sacha wrote
Lovely and thank you! Though I must say that the sound of the Little Owl
doesn't sound at all like ours do! Ours can and often do call in daylight
and make a sort of "hoo, hoohoo, hooooooooo" sound
--
Sacha
Wasn't Santa warming up for christmas ?
Tom Atkinson

"BAC" wrote
How would you describe the call of the Eagle Owl? Sacha might have some
around, but I expect she'd have noticed ....


http://www.owlpages.com/owls.php?gen...o&species=bubo

Quite a distinctive two tone call, not that I've heard it in the wild.

--
Regards
Bob
In Runnymede, 17 miles West of London

On 21/11/05 16:33, in article , "Tom
Atkinson" wrote:

Sacha wrote
Lovely and thank you! Though I must say that the sound of the Little Owl
doesn't sound at all like ours do! Ours can and often do call in daylight
and make a sort of "hoo, hoohoo, hooooooooo" sound
--
Sacha
Wasn't Santa warming up for christmas ?
Tom Atkinson

I can't *begin* to imagine what you're expecting in your Christmas stocking!
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)

"Bob Hobden" wrote in message
...

"BAC" wrote
How would you describe the call of the Eagle Owl? Sacha might have some
around, but I expect she'd have noticed ....


http://www.owlpages.com/owls.php?gen...o&species=bubo

Quite a distinctive two tone call, not that I've heard it in the wild.


Thanks, that's quite an informative site. Given the reported propensity for
living off rats and gulls, nesting sites close to landfills would seem worth
promoting :-)

Sacha-it was the ho ho (Well nearly ) that reminded me of Santa although if
he was coming this evening he would get lost in the fog !
Tom
"Sacha" wrote in message
.uk...
On 21/11/05 16:33, in article , "Tom
Atkinson" wrote:

Sacha wrote
Lovely and thank you! Though I must say that the sound of the Little
Owl
doesn't sound at all like ours do! Ours can and often do call in
daylight
and make a sort of "hoo, hoohoo, hooooooooo" sound
--
Sacha
Wasn't Santa warming up for christmas ?
Tom Atkinson

I can't *begin* to imagine what you're expecting in your Christmas
stocking!
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)

On 21/11/05 21:49, in article , "Tom
Atkinson" wrote:

Sacha-it was the ho ho (Well nearly ) that reminded me of Santa although if
he was coming this evening he would get lost in the fog !
Tom
"Sacha" wrote in message
.uk...
On 21/11/05 16:33, in article , "Tom
Atkinson" wrote:

Sacha wrote
Lovely and thank you! Though I must say that the sound of the Little
Owl
doesn't sound at all like ours do! Ours can and often do call in
daylight
and make a sort of "hoo, hoohoo, hooooooooo" sound
--
Sacha
Wasn't Santa warming up for christmas ?
Tom Atkinson

I can't *begin* to imagine what you're expecting in your Christmas
stocking!
--

Ah! Well, I heard what we now know to be the Tawny owl again this evening,
about 5pm. It's a very welcome sound. I'm quite tempted to find some sort
of frost/wetproof tape recording device to set up in different areas of the
garden to see which animals and birds it picks up during darkness. Anyone
any suggestions for equipment that doesn't cost a fortune?
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)