THE TAWNY'S HAVE MOVED HOME

My resident Tawny Owls have been nesting and roosting in a box I put up for them over the last couple of years. I had seen them in December/January at the box entrance enjoying the winter sunshine but later on in the year I noticed that the box was full of sticks.

tawny's at the entrance hole in the box

one of the owls

I suspect this was the work of squirrels, but as my expert nesting mate Stephen Carter had told me that there was no way a squirrel would eject a Tawny Owl from it's nesting site. I was gutted that they wouldn't be there anymore but just couldn't understand why they would leave. Perhaps one or both had died who knows but I knew that they hadn't left the area as I could still hear them calling in the evenings.

In the autumn and winter months we do have some bad storms and have had a couple of trees come down. While walking our dog through the small wood near my home I noticed that a big branch had come from a tree leaving a rather large hole, I wonder I thought, as I got nearer the hole a Tawny flew straight out, it seems that they have moved into this new tree hole, I was pleased to have found them and set up my trail camera opposite the tree hole to see if I could get some footage.

treehole

As I was setting up the camera trap a couple of days later the Owls flew out again confirming that they had decided to use this new site. I got the wife to help me with the camera so I was able to get a couple of images of an Owl as it flew out.

owl flying out of the tree hole

what a beautiful bird

Here's some of the camera trap footage, they're getting harrassed by the squirrels but both birds it seems are staying put.

Here are some frame grabs from the video, I think the smaller Owl is the male and is a different bird than the original bird in the picture at the nest box.

I think this is the male and is a different bird from the original pair

I think this is the original female

both birds together

It's great to know that they're still residing in the woods and hopefully will nest in their new home successfully this year fingers crossed.