Re: Little Owl

Taken Friday night in same area as my previous Tawny Owl pics

Another great shot, how do you spot these guys in the dark. I must admit if it werent for the yellow eye colour I'd have said this was a Tawny, its very Tawny looking to me even down to the colour.

Andrew

Hi Galatas! What a great shot! you are amazing!

However I am not sure that it isn't a Long Eared which is even more amazing than a Little Owl as they are so secretive. My reasoning is that there is no sign of the light coloured "eyebrows" that are so prominent in the Little and the whole Jiz is not right for me. Whereas it looks good for a slightly nervous Long Eared with the "ear" tufts flattened indicating he knew you were there and was making up his mind whether to freeze or flee!

I'll look for a picture to show you what I mean.

Jenni

PS. Don't you go to bed?

Edit: here's a pic of a LG with tufts flattened

And a very bad one of a Little Owl!

Incidently a lot of people think the LGO is quite large - in fact it is smaller than a Tawny though bigger than a LO

Jenni

Hi Jenni , thanks for finding those pics. Far be it from me to dispute anyone's ID so all I can tell you is my first reaction on seeing it was it was so small it must be a Little Owl. It looked half the size of the Tawny I photographed a month ago. To the eye it looked quite grey compared to how my photo shows it. We didn't hear Tawnies calling last night as we usually do. I suffer from tinnitus so my hearing is poor and I rely on my partner to listen out for their calls but I can pick up the female's "keevick" if it is close by. At one point my partner said she could hear something but it wasn't a Tawny ; she said it was more like budgie twittering  Hahaha Make of that what you will.PS , about the stance. If you look closely at the pic you can see it isn't stood on the first branch but one just behind it.

Hiya Galatas i can't help you with ID but have you tried lightening the photo it shows a bit more detail of the face etc to help with ID.

Whatever it is it's a cracking shot.

Hi Alan , yes I've put it through the washing machine. Any lighter doesn't look natural and shows up the noise. Whatever it is there were two of them but I only got one before they flew out of vision.

To my eye the Little Owl has the least obvious facial disc of all the owls mentioned.

Now you've put the original up for people to see just thought it may help to get you an ID although saying that it doesn't really matter what it is it's still a cracking photo/spot.

Hi Galatas

I done as Alan suggested and it certainly looks like a Little Owl when lightened up as you can see the yellow eyes. Jenni where was you pic of the LEO taken it looks familiar?

Shane

Edit: the location that is, not the owl lol

Hi Galatas. Your partner's description of budgie-like twittering convinces me even more that this is a LEO! The guy in the pic (Huw) twitters quietly at me all the time!

I would say LEOs look a lot smaller than a Tawny whereas a Little is slighly smaller than a song thrush.

The greyness of the Little is my bad photo taken in a very dim corner - they are quite brown really.

Jenni

Hi again, The picture of Huw was taken at Bodafon in Llandudno. He's one of our Education Team and a real sweetie.

Jenni

Thanks Jenni

It was not where I thought it was after all I thought it was in Cornwall, Huw is a lovely looking bird.

Shane

Thanks Jenni , LEO it is then. Just for the record it was taken in the south of Cheshire , almost in Staffordshire , a rural location called Odd Rode.

www.rspb.org.uk/.../421153.aspx

I had a report of an LEO a bit South of there about this time last year - it was a recording of the call on a phone that clinched it. It's a single hoot - shorter than the Tawny's Hoo-oo-oo-Oo. They are a very overlooked owl as they are so secretive and strictly nocturnal.

Huw made an old farmer very happy a couple of years ago. This guy had had LEOs in a copse on his land in East Wales all his life but had never spotted one, only heard them. I took Huw to see him in an old folks place where he was sadly losing his sight. When he was able to look at and touch Huw he wept with pleasure! It's that sort of joy that makes what I do at the sanctuary so wonderful.

Jenni

Well done Jenni

I stand (well sat actually) corrected, and thats a touching story I can imagine how good it must have made you feel.

Shane

Shane

Well done Jenni

I stand (well sat actually) corrected,

Shane

Don't worry about it Shane , even with my appalling ID record I was surprised to have gotten this one wrong.