Bird Watch: The little owl
Then... AG in 1959 and Now... AG in 2020
A STUMPY, short-tailed bird about the size of a mistle thrush, the little owl is, as its name implies, the smallest of its family. It is not native to this country and was introduced from the Continent in 1889 and found conditions so congenial that it multiplied rapidly, spreading out far and wide until it is now widely distributed. Its greyish-brown plumage is streaked and spotted with white, and it has rounded wings, glaring yellow eyes and a peculiar flat head. The feet and legs are feathered.
Nesting sites range from holes in hedges, walls and trees to rabbit warrens, quarries, caves and the disused nests of other bird. For two years in succession a pair (presumably the same two birds) raised a family of five in an unoccupied dovecote in my garden.
Insects, earthworms, small mammals, lizards and centipedes form their main food supply, but because little owls forage by day as well as by night they not infrequently take small birds.
B Melville Nicholas
LITTLE owls may be small but that didn’t impede their significance in the classical world where Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, and Minerva, her Roman equivalent, both chose Athene noctua as their animal companion. Since then, owls have been regarded as birds of intelligence, even though they are not as bright as the Corvid (crow) family and their heads are large not due to brainsize but because they need a sizeable cavity to house their large eyes designed for night-vision.
These chunky little birds, which always seem to wear a slightly outraged expression, are usually spotted perched on dead trees or fence posts, scanning for prey. They bob up and down when alarmed and their call is a shrill yelp, though the young hiss when begging for food.
Numbers of breeding pairs are declining across Europe, possibly caused by changes to farming and shrinking numbers of their prey due to poisons and agricultural chemicals.