LEON aims to help raise awareness of UK & Irelands Long-eared Owls.
NB: Please feed in where ever you feel able, but remember to send your info to the relevant County Recorder / RBBP / BTO via the usual confidential channels.
BTO Birdtrack - Contact List for county-bird-recorders
Header image by Kevin Owens, Co.Durham.
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LEO SURVEYING
We have very little knowledge of Long-eared Owls over much
of the country and going out to look & listen for Leo and submitting
records to County Recorders (via existing regular channels) would greatly add to our
baseline knowledge.G.Ridley |
Suggested Simple Survey
Method: Late Winter / Spring
One of the most productive & simple means of locating
Long-eared Owl pairs is a methodical approach at dusk. Late Winter / early
Spring evening visits looking & listening for birds during calm conditions
are a good way to confirm a presence that might otherwise be missed in days or
weeks of dedicated daylight cold searching.
Find a sheltered vantage point approx. 50 metres from the
leeward side of a copse or plantation, adjacent to open country. Get tucked in as
the light starts to fade and simply wait. If you have no contacts from your
position after the light has gone, move closer to treeline & listen again,
move along the edge of the site stopping to listen again every 50 yards.
What to look &
listen out for
Resident male Long-eared Owls will commence their late
Winter moaning ‘song’ from New Year, and this will reach a peak as we progress
through February.S.Evans |
March is a key month in the birds calendar, as pre-breeding
activity increases in the half-light with bursts of ‘song’ accompanied by prominent
wing-clapping display flights. The male will fly out around & above the
likely nest site in a series of circuits in which he audibly taps his wing tips
beneath his body. This reaches a peak during March, with pairs often becoming conspicuous
in the half light around dusk, sometimes flying together, then becoming particularly
vocal and animated during nest selection & mating, at the end of March /
early April. In mature wood lots & shelterbelts the pair may indulge in a
jig-jagging follow my leader display flight within the wood, up through the
stems & canopy.
Males may ‘sing’ from anywhere within their territory and
even in flight, but chiefly from the preferred nesting site. Here he will have
a series of song perches, which can include the apex of a tree. Keep an eye on
any obvious bare branches or isolated posts / saplings etc – birds will often
fly out onto they before commencing with the evening’s activities. His singing,
coupled with display flights can continue for hours, days & weeks, he will
often break off to move out to hunt, bringing prey back to his mate often wing
clapping to announce his arrival in the distance, she will pick up the tempo of
her calling as he approaches.
The female tends to confine her activities close to the
prospective natal area. NB: Her soft ‘paper & comb’ calling is the clincher
when looking to confirm the location of a breeding pair. During nest selection
the female may perch openly at or even on her chosen nest – repeated daylight visits
at this stage can cause the pair to relocate. Different individuals react
differently to an observer’s daytime presence. Although it is natural for Leo
to adopt as sleek a profile as possible to help avoid detection, this mechanism
tells us as observers that the owl will feel more secure if we were not there,
or not as close – in contrast to this a particularly aggressive bird may well
fly at or swoop round the observers head ! Having said that, dusk or evening
visits are unlikely to affect the pairs activities once underway, provided the
observer isn’t on top of the birds or making a commotion. Female Leos will
contact call at night with some regularity from the nest, allowing the location
to be pinned down without climbing trees.
Ultimately vocalisations & pre-breeding activity will
depend upon when that particular season starts & how long it lasts (eg.
Co.Durham 2017 – eggs were laid over a 12 week period )
D.Spiers |
Leos will use any kind of arboreal habitat, but a good starting point is to select a location which you know or looks like it may hold Short-eared &/or Barn Owls. This is likely to be an area of rough grassland, although Leos can be found in very many scenarios & habitat types including mixed farmland with field margins etc. Breeding Leos in the UK will utilise many habitat types from sea level up onto moorland sites at 500m provided there are old stick nests, or not as the case in some of the northern isles! Recently established community woodlands provide ideal hunting habitat, these new plantations are providing fresh opportunities for birds to exploit and will still be utilised long after the canopy has closed. The birds will hunt the exact same ground as the other two more conspicuous species but will be hidden away in any wood edge or copse which adjoins an area of rough grassland. NB: Locations where Leos roost often also go on to provide nest sites.
In peak vole years, during optimal conditions, breeding densities can be high with multiple pairs in close proximity. Single tetrads holding 6 pairs in Notts (D.Scott) and 8 pairs in Durham (S.Evans), with Scott also detailing 5 pairs in a single 1km square. Conversely, several pairs can appear to exist ‘in isolation’ – less productive ground resulting in far larger territories, some hunting 2.5km away from the nest, with these far roaming birds therefore being more difficult to locate & pin point…
Library image |
Use of playback
It is not recommended to use any playback of recordings or
tapes in the field other than to check/confirm your findings. Getting out in
flat calm conditions will increase your chances of connecting with this
species. A helpful tip is ‘cupped hand amplification’ – cupping your hands
behind your ears really works to help amplify & help pin point any
vocalisations.
Survey insights
In VC66, a County survey in 2005 saw just under half of all
41 surveyors see Leos, including 3 observing the species for the very first
time – one fieldworker catching up with his ‘bogey bird’ after watching in the
county for 20 years ! This area has
radically reappraised its population with targeted fieldwork from many
observers. 2019 will see groups out surveying for the species, including those
from Wales & East Yorkshire.Tony Fitches |
Please remember Long-eared Owl is a Schedule 1 species in Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man.
Other resources
Xeno-canto Bird Calls resource: https://www.xeno-canto.org/
Moon phase website: https://moonphases.co.uk/
Atlas maps: https://app.bto.org/mapstore/StoreServlet?id=286
BTO pages: https://www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/project-owl/learn-about-owls/long-eared-owl
RBBP pages: http://www.rbbp.org.uk/downloads/sp_guidelines_longeared_owl.pdfBTO pages: https://www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/project-owl/learn-about-owls/long-eared-owl
BTO Birdfacts page: https://app.bto.org/birdfacts/results/bob7670.htm
LEON Twitter account: https://twitter.com/LongearedOwlne1
RBBP have some guidance on the interpretation of
behaviour to breeding evidence codes:
http://www.rbbp.org.uk/downloads/sp_guidelines_longeared_owl.pdf
http://www.rbbp.org.uk/downloads/sp_guidelines_longeared_owl.pdf
PS: Please look after yourself ,especially If you are not accustomed to wandering around in the dark ! A small torch & a stout stick may be helpful. It may be prudent to let any landowners know your whereabouts - your activities & your vehicle may appear suspicious
Good Luck & heres hoping you have a positive experience.
LEON Team.
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