Hello,
I live near Lady Dixons park in Belfast. For the last four nights we have been hearing the cry of what seems to be a young owl. The cries are constant and sound exaclty like this
http://www.owlpages.com/sounds/Asio-otus-5.mp3
Now I am no expert but the cries are so persistant and regular...probably 30 in 1minute alone. I am worried that a young owl is stuck, but still alive.
What do you think? I tried to email USPCA...turns out the email is not valid....
Please get back to me! (may bite the bullet and actually ring someone about this tomorrow!)
Owls are a protected species in NI.
Thanks.
Hi,
ringing the USPCA is probably best - if it is a Long eared owl it won't be in a hole as they nest in old crows nests. The young do make a lot of noise- creaking away to make the adults feed them.
:)
S
For advice about Birding, Identification,field guides, binoculars, scopes, tripods, etc - put 'Birding Tips' into the search box
Thanks for getting back to me! I will do just that today...hopefully this constant calling is a normal thing then! :)
Hi airgarten
The "rusty gate hinge" calls of juvenile Long eared Owls can be quite persistent (and insistent). It's a pretty normal sound for a nest site so there probably isn't a problem. You're lucky to have them so close by. I've only seen LEOs twice in 40 odd years of birding.
JBNTS
Every day a little more irate about bird of prey persecution, and I have a cat - Got a problem with that?
Thanks! It just seems so so persistent, but as i said I am not an expert...but yeah happy to have owls close by, we have seen one adult fly above the garden. Think they are long eared owls...just because of their particular noises...it flew by in a flash but was definitely one of them! Quite a big bird. We wanted to build a owl box at the beginning of the summer but seems like they like this bushy/leafy environment. Thank you for reassurance! :)