Long-eared Owl
The Long-eared Owl is probably one of the UK’s least-known resident birds, owing to its secretive behaviour, nocturnal habits and very scattered distribution. But they are really are worth seeing if you get the chance!
They are our smallest native owl – the more diminutive Little Owl being a 19thcentury introduction from the continent – and have a fabulously cryptically-coloured plumage which enables them to blend in perfectly with the trunks and canopies of conifer trees, in which they often spend the day.
If you do happen to spot one in the daytime, the most obvious feature you will note are their wonderful ear tufts, standing upright on the top of their heads. The likelihood is, if you are seeing a Long-eared Owl at its roost, it will be fully aware of you being there, and the owl’s response to your presence is to sit as upright as possible, creating a slim, sleek shape topped off with the erect ear tufts. The bird might adopt this posture to make itself look bigger, or it might aid its camouflage – either way, it is certainly a striking image.
But the ‘ear’ tufts actually have nothing to do with ears at all. The Long-eared’s ears are located on the side of the head and, as is typical of owls, they are asymmetrically placed. This means that the left ear is placed higher up on the bird’s head, with the right one lower down. These offset ears, combined with the facial disc which acts like a parabolic receiver, give the bird extremely acute hearing, enabling it to pinpoint prey items even in the middle of the night when visibility is greatly reduced.
This obviously begs the question as to what the ear tufts are actually for.
It is believed that although not actually for listening, they are used to communicate to other Long-eared Owls, effectively acting as a form of facial expression, perhaps similar to the way we use our eyebrows to communicate our moods and intentions to others.
Dinner time
When it comes to feeding, Long-eared Owls are vole specialists, hunting over rough grassy habitats where numbers of these small mammals are going to be at their highest. They tend to fly low to the ground and relatively slowly, quartering a site thoroughly. When it comes to locating the prey, it is their acute hearing that is the lead sense. With silent wings, thanks to the fringed edges of the feathers, not creating any interfering sounds, the bird can really tune in to what is happening below it. The faintest rustle in the grass is immediately detected and the owl stalls its flight and drops downwards, talons first, to catch the unsuspecting small mammal.
Birds also feature in the diet, especially when vole numbers are low. Studies in
Britain have shown that House Sparrows seem to be the favoured prey, but other species, such as Goldfinch and Meadow Pipit can also play an important part in their diet. While it is mainly small bird species that are taken there have also been some exceptional records of birds such as Lapwing, Moorhen, Magpie and even adult Woodpigeon being preyed upon! The Woodpigeon in particular is quite a remarkable record, considering that they are almost twice the weight of a Long-eared Owl!
Location, location, location
Although difficult to find, Long-eared Owls are one of the most widely distributed owl species in the world, being found in a narrow band of latitude that extends right around the northern half of the globe, spanning America, from the Californian coast to New York, and reaching right across from Portugal in the west to Japan in the far east. This also makes them one of the most numerous owl species in the world, although in Britain their numbers are relatively low. It is estimated that we have between 1,800 and 6,000 pairs of these nocturnal hunters in the country, the wide range quoted reflecting the difficulty in surveying these secretive birds accurately.
In the winter, our resident birds are joined by migrants from northern Europe, with some birds travelling from as far away as Russia and even Iceland, a journey that includes a lot of flying across a large area of open sea, indicating that even though their flight may appear slow and even delicate, they are actually very strong flyers. In the winter they can congregate at winter roosts, spending the days together sitting in the branches of trees, before going off separately to hunt once the light starts to fade. These roosts can hold several birds, with anything between six and 50 individuals being regarded as ‘normal’. This sort of behaviour is very unusual in owls, who normally maintain a territorial area throughout the year and will generally
display aggression towards any intruders.
It is these winter roosts that can offer you the best chance of seeing these otherwise elusive birds. Their locations can often be unknown or very closely guarded secrets as the roosting birds are sensitive to disturbance. In Britain, perhaps Deeping Lakes LWT (not far from the Bird Watching office) in south Lincolnshire is one of the most reliable sites to see roosting birds – crucially, because the roost is located on an island, it is also safe from disturbance.
In some places, especially in mainland Europe, they will roost in large numbers in towns and cities. In Hungary, I have seen them roosting in street trees alongside a busy road with people passing by underneath. Milan in Italy has a number of roosts within the city.
Talk of the town
But the most famous of these urban roosts has to be in a town in Serbia called Kikinda. In its centre there is a square fringed with many trees which prove extraordinarily attractive to the owls, with roosting numbers of several hundred (sometimes more than 600) birds recorded every night during the winter period! This is believed to be the largest concentration of owls in the world; unsurprisingly, it is a major attraction to birdwatchers and non-birdwatchers from all over the planet.
The town is rightly proud of its owls (and is no doubt very pleased with the money they generate) and has designated the town square as a nature reserve in its own right. As far as I know, this is the only town square in the world to be declared a nature reserve!
During the breeding season, Long-eared Owls become even harder to find, but you can get lucky. If, like me, you love a bit of Nightjar watching, then you might just find yourself in the right place at the right time! Patches of mature conifer mixed with grassy dominated young trees or heath are good habitats for both species. Long-eareds are more thinly spread than Nightjars, but if you are in a good place for them you might, just might, be in a good place for the owls as well.
The key is listening. Once the light has gone and the Nightjar show finished, make sure that you stop and listen on your way back to the car. Long-eared Owls have a soft song call of ‘ Oooh’ repeated every two seconds or so, but even though it is soft, it carries a long way, several hundred metres or more. The most familiar and distinctive call, though, is that of the young. When demanding food, either as growing nestlings or as newly-fledged birds, the young have a loud begging call that is regularly referred to as the ‘squeaky gate call’. It is a good description, a long two syllable high-pitched call that does indeed sound like a gate that needs a bit of oil!
Long-eared Owls are indeed elusive birds and are probably one of the most challenging widespread British breeding species to see. They would certainly make a great addition to any My200BirdYear list – I haven’t got one on mine, but that’s the thing with birding, you never know what you are going to see next.
DURING THE BREEDING SEASON, LONG-EARED OWLS BECOME EVEN HARDER TO FIND, BUT YOU CAN GET LUCKY...