Owling

During a birding year, one comes across many great experiences with wildlife and birds. Some of these, are glued to my mind a bit stronger than others. Within a birding year, there are also many seasons. Different times of year which have different things to offer. One of these seasons, and my personal favourite is the owl season (ugle). The owl season is essentially the month of March. Thats when these fantastic birds start their breeding season, and their song activity is at its peak. Most of the owls only sing after dark, and luckily, daylight hours are fairly short in Norway at this time of year, so we are getting plenty of great owl time!

However, this year has been a bit slow so far in my home area. A steady easterly has ensured to shut down the owls. In my experience, if the trees make any sound - it is too much wind and owls won't sing. The last week, I have been three trips to try for Eagle owl (hubro) nearby, but nothing to be heard except a couple of Tawny owls (kattugle).

The next days though, even though there are forecastet  50 knots wind at home, in southern Norway the forecast seems perfect. Not too cold, a nearly full moon and absolutely no wind. The birds I will be looking for is not only one of my favorites, but also one of the rarest and most difficult breeding birds in Norway to see. I will make sure to keep you posted on how my little owl adventure goes!

This ural owl I photographed in Finland a few years back. It was actively
hunting in the forest edge, but to make it perform like this
in front of the camera we used a bait. 

The last week, has, apart from preparing for the upcoming owl trip been very much a office week. A few short trips to make another tv interview, look at the local gulls (found an iceland gull! (grønlandsmåke) ) and working on the upcoming book some colleagues and myself are working on. Hope to get it out there before migration season seriously kicks in!


-EG-