Barn owls
- Thread starter Scubahood
- Start date
guisborough_rob
Well-known member
We have one nesting in the field at the back of our house. We see him on our fence occasionally but he mighty difficult to get a decent photo of.
Bernie's view
Active member
We have a few Barn Owls on our farm. Absolutely beautiful to watch and easy to spot hunting. Usually keep a field or two distance so not easy to photograph with your phone! I have a wildlife camera set up at the moment facing a post I've seen one land on in the past.
FartingGnome
Well-known member
Some years ago there was a bloke not far from us in Billingham who'd converted pretty much his whole back garden (it was a decent size) into an aviary for the purpose of keeping rescued owls (he was licensed) and ideally releasing them back into the wild. Most of them were Tawnies but he had a pair of breeding Barn Owls. The Tawnies were all approachable to the extent that a couple of them were just about tame (one of them used to come and perch on my shoulder, tug at my hair and make purring noises, these had been captive owls and unstable for release), but the Barn Owls weren't on communication terms with humans. Anectodal obviously but maybe something in it. The short eared owl wouldn't come anywhere near me either.
FartingGnome
Well-known member
Aye, Mrs Gnome put it in the Gazette.I don't blame them, I've heard that gnomes' farts are rancid
London_Boro
Well-known member
Completely random, but I was out on my Mountain bike on Friday afternoon in some local woods, not far from Rainham and a flock of about 100 green parakeets flew out of a tree and over my head. Was an awesome sight, if not a bit surprising!
Didn't see any owls though.
Didn't see any owls though.
FartingGnome
Well-known member
Bloody Immigrants, coming over here taking all our garden scraps
Lifelonfaninexile
Well-known member
What were barn owls called before there were barns?
Blf
Well-known member
While we have bird watchers on I have a question on identifying a bird.
It landed in our garden yesterday. It had a bright red breast (much brighter than a robin). Its body was jet black as were its wings. Its head was Jet black and it had a mohican shaped red stripe from front to back of its head. It hung around for an hour in the same spot then flew off. Never seen one before.
It landed in our garden yesterday. It had a bright red breast (much brighter than a robin). Its body was jet black as were its wings. Its head was Jet black and it had a mohican shaped red stripe from front to back of its head. It hung around for an hour in the same spot then flew off. Never seen one before.
FartingGnome
Well-known member
Bullfinch? Not sure about the mohican though.
pierrequiroule
Well-known member
We had a pair nesting under our barn for many years at our last place and were regularly rescuing young that fell. We stretched canvas underneath so they got a soft landing. Most made it after a few months at a local rescue centre and some were re-released as adults - two in the photo.
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Sheriff_John_Bunnell_ret
Well-known member
How do you know barns weren't named after barn owls?
pierrequiroule
Well-known member
That's what came to my mind too. There's nothing that fits the description in the UK anyway. The only others I can think of with the red mohican are the lesser and greater spotted woodpeckers or the much rarer black woodpecker, but none match the description. Size?
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Blf
Well-known member
Yep that looks like it but there was definately a stripe of red on its head. Cheers.
FartingGnome
Well-known member
Maybe his missus threw up on his head after eating too many fermented berries
Foggysfplandiet3
Well-known member
Yes, had a couple if these in the garden. Lovely colour.
Foggysfplandiet3
Well-known member
Have a look at Winterwatch on catch up, they had some great footage of a barn owl which someone had come across while out for a walk. They stood under a tree and looked up to a branch and there it was, so they filmed it. The Barn owl looked down at the human filming him, was totally unfazed and looked at him as if to say, “Yeah? What are you looking at, pal?”
Winterwatch also had footage of a barn owl swooping under Aberystwyth Pier every night and picking off one of the thousands of starlings sheltering under there.
Winterwatch also had footage of a barn owl swooping under Aberystwyth Pier every night and picking off one of the thousands of starlings sheltering under there.