http://www.birdguides.com/birdwatch Birdwatch•October 2017 33
❯
BUILDING SKILLS
Numbers of Britain’s breeding Long-eared
Owls are augmented by wintering birds
from Europe in autumn, making this the
time to fi nd your own.1
Try to see all fi ve British owls
Britain has fi ve annually breeding owl species and all become more visible in autumn; why not
attempt to see them all?
Little Owl is largely resident and can be seen roosting in rotten elms and oaks, or hunting from
fenceposts and other prominent perches in grassland with scattered trees and shrubs. Its high-pitched kee-
ew call can sometimes be heard after dark.
Tawny Owl can be found in suburban parks and large wooded gardens as well as forested areas. It
can be heard hooting and making kwik calls at night, being fully nocturnal. Its daytime presence is often
revealed by mobbing passerines as it hides out in dense ivy and other foliage. It is very sedentary and has
only rarely been recorded more than 20 miles from its hatching site, so a known pair will often produce
sightings of their juveniles nearby as they disperse.
Barn Owl is also largely nocturnal in summer, but starts fl ying during the day in autumn as it fattens
up on small mammals before they hibernate. Farmland and open wetlands can hold birds, and early
morning is often the best time to catch them, almost fl oating like ghosts relatively low over the ground.
Our breeding Short-eared Owls are augmented by Continental birds come October. Sites with plenty
of long grass can harbour several birds, which roost on the ground and often hunt in daylight hours.
They can be very visible, and even ride thermals like Common Buzzards as the day warms up.
Continental Long-eared Owls also join our local breeders, though numbers are lower than other
species. This is the most secretive of the fi ve, and is very locally distributed. It often roosts communally,
and word of these gatherings is often passed around local birders, but care must be taken not to disturb
them – please keep your distance.THEO DOUMA (WWW.AGAMI.NL)2
Count your local migrants
Migrants pass through Britain in their thousands during autumn, and any local site can hold
some as they work their way through. However, only a few decades ago there were many more.
To monitor these changes, scientists can only do so much on their own, and need citizen science to
get a better idea. The best way to do this is for local birders to watch the same site regularly, building
up counts of all species throughout autumn, and even logging comparable counts every year to gain a
picture of changes in migrant populations over time. Wherever you’re logging migrants, watch from
the same spot or walk the same circuit to ensure the fi gures are directly comparable.
Counting and logging these birds adds quality to your birding, helps sharpen your ability to
identify calls and distant species and, when registered with the British Trust for Ornithology’s
BirdTrack scheme or eBird, genuinely contributes to our big-picture knowledge of bird movements.1710 p032-035 autumn challenge FIN.indd 33 15/09/2017 09:34