Hawk Conservancy Trust Newsletter Spring 2021 Issue 87

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HAWKTALK SPRING 2020 ISSUE 87

HAWKTALK SPRING 2021 ISSUE 87

Tawny Owls

Meet a Tawny Owl At the Trust, we have two adorable Tawny Owls on our team: Troy and Sage. Many of you will have met them on a visit to the Trust. Troy has been a part of our team at the Trust for many years and is best known for his fear of heights! For the past year, he’s been cared for by Ria May who has a wonderful bond with him: “I’ve absolutely loved working closely with Troy in the past year. He’s very chatty, particularly in the mornings when I feed him. He mainly calls with his baby call but, occasionally if he’s feeling grown up, he will also “t’witt- t’woo” very loudly! He often comes to sit with me while I clean in his aviary, occasionally stealing my sponge or playing with the leaves that I’m trying to rake up! He has a great character and is a well-loved member of the team at the Trust. Now that he has moulted, he looks beautiful with his chestnut colours, all ready to welcome you all back!”

Sage is the younger of our Tawny Owls and belongs to Tom Morath who raised her from a tiny chick: “I’ve been working with and taking care of Sage from the very beginning: we first met when she was eight days old. Since then, she’s grown into a beautiful mature Tawny Owl who flies well in displays and is happy to try new things. She’s even started to learn how to fish from a shallow bowl of water to show off a rarely seen natural behaviour. Sage has lived at various centres and met lots of people with me as I’ve travelled around flying birds. She has a feisty side to her character, which I really love. Tawny Owls are well known for their fierce defence of their territory, shouting at the top of their lungs to proclaim their territory and the Bird Team members who live on site tell me that Sage can be very noisy!” You can see Troy and Sage in displays this year; Troy will be part of the Woodland Owls display team from when we open and, once Sage has finished moulting and is ready to re-join the team, the pair will swap duties.

The iconic sound of British woodland, “t’witt-t’woo”, comes from the beloved Tawny Owl, a species that is heard far more often than it is seen. Though a nocturnal species, they are sometimes active during the day through the breeding season. Their mottled, chestnut brown plumage makes for perfect camouflage when they roost during the day, often in thick foliage, close to the tree trunk. This species is distributed throughout Europe and there are three plumage variations in this range, chestnut being most common in the UK.

Conservation This species is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, though in the UK it is Amber Listed which means that there is reason for concern. At the Trust, we provide nest boxes for birds of prey, including 113 for Tawny Owls. These are monitored by our UK Conservation Biologist, Dr Matt Stevens. Matt is researching the ecology of nest box use and how this affects the populations of the species we provide them for. Nest boxes provide a safe place for Tawny Owls, and other species, to nest and raise their chicks. Use of our boxes is monitored closely, and we check as many as we can throughout the season. These checks mean we can assess occupancy (which species are using the box and how this changes through the year), the date the first egg is laid at each nest, how many eggs are laid, hatching success and fledging success. We also ring all of the young from these boxes to help in both the Trust’s research and national monitoring programmes. Since this project began, we have ringed an impressive 180 Tawny Owls from our nest box project and a further 200 that have been released back to the wild after rehabilitation in our hospital! The number of birds ringed doesn’t quite tell the whole story as there are quite a few boxes each year where nesting attempts fail or the young fledge before Matt has had the opportunity to check them.

The Trust is also involved in Farmers Clusters, which are cooperatives of farmers and landowners working together to deliver benefits for soil, water and wildlife across the landscape. We help by providing advice on managing the land to provide suitable habitat for birds of prey and other species, giving talks and farm walks, and providing and monitoring nest boxes. Every year, Tawny Owls are the most numerous species we admit to our National Bird of Prey Hospital™. It’s quite common for young chicks to leave the nest site before they’re able to fly well enough to return to it. This means that although one might be found on the ground, its parents will continue to care for it. We recommend that if you do come across a Tawny Owl chick on the ground, leave it where it is, unless it is visibly injured or in danger. This species is also vulnerable to other threats that result in it being admitted to our care, particularly collisions with motor vehicles.

JUNE: Hatching to fledging takes 32-37 days so this month is the peak time for youngsters to fledge. JULY: Young Tawny Owls stay in nearby trees, close to their parents, for a while after fledging and will still beg for food. AUGUST: Juveniles begin to explore further, and the oldest ones will start to hunt for themselves but stay close to the nest. They remain dependent on their parents for up to three months after fledging. SEPTEMBER: Youngsters begin to move further from the nest, as they become more independent and proficient at catching their own prey. OCTOBER: Most juveniles will now be independent of their parents, they can fend for themselves and have dispersed away from the nest, though typically not very far. NOVEMBER: Late autumn is the best time to listen out for Tawny Owls.

Breeding activity begins in DECEMBER . JANUARY: Tawny Owl pairs will continue to defend the territory around the nest and will continue mating. FEBRUARY: Tawny Owls can lay their eggs as early as February. Laying is ‘asynchronous’ which means there is a gap of around 48 hours between the laying of each egg, helping to increase the chicks’ chances of survival. MARCH: The middle of this month is when most pairs will begin to breed and incubation begins. Clutches typically consist of 2-9 eggs. APRIL: Incubation takes 28-30 days so chicks will start hatching this month. MAY: Tawny Owlets will leave the nest before they can fly, in a phase called ‘branching’. They will walk, flutter and clamber around nearby trees and, even if they are unable to return to the nest, will continue to be looked after by their parents.

Cedric Robert with a hospitalised Tawny Owl

If you come across a bird of prey chick or injured bird, read more about what you should d o at www.hawk-conservancy.org/injured-birds/

Tawny Owl chicks in a Trust nest box