Owls and their protection
From ancient times the owl was regarded as the symbol of wisdom and consequently was afforded protection. But in many parts of Europe during the Middle Ages, it became associated with witchcraft and the forces of evil and has been depicted thus in countless fairy tales. This accounts for the widespread belief that the cry of the little owl, attracted by the light in a window, foretells a death in the house. Such beliefs soon resulted in owls being pursued without mercy in many places. Even today it is not uncommon to come across people who shoot owls or destroy their nests.
Watching Sense of Owls
Owls have been wonderfully equipped by nature for hunting at night. Unlike other birds, their eyes are not located at the sides of the head but face forward, thus making their range of vision only about 160 degrees. However, this is compensated by the owl’s ability to twist its head around a full 270 degrees. The eye is also unusually large, with a wide lens and very contractile iris that regulates the penetration of light, allowing in more at night and less by day.
The owl can thus see remarkably well under practically all circumstances. In addition, the eye is able to focus quickly on small objects, even at great distances, allowing the bird to sight a small mouse at a range of several tens of metres. Closure of its eye is also different from that of other birds, in that the upper, instead of the lower lid, closes. In addition, they also have a second membraneous eyelid that slides from the inner to the outer corner of the eye.
Hearing Sense
Owls have an excellently developed sense of hearing, which helps them to locate their prey even in total darkness. Many owls have enlarged feathers around the ears or round the perimeter of the head, which enable them to catch the slightest sound; that is why the owl turns its face towards a sound and is able to pinpoint the position of its prey, which it then proceeds to catch without a sound.
Silent flight ability
The silent flight is a typical feature of owls. Once airborne, an owl seems more like a shadow, and the swish of its feathers cannot be heard. The reason for this is that its plumage is soft and fluffy, and the surface of the wing and tail feathers is covered with fine down. The toes, too, have a coating of fine down which deadens any sound as the bird alights on a branch. In the young bird, the first powder-down plumage is replaced by a coat of semi-down and normal feathers are acquired when the bird begins to fly. It is often possible to see baby owls which are incapable of flight and which still have remains of their semi-down coat.
Owls are predators in the main, though they have little in common with the true birds of prey and are more closely related to the nightjar. They primarily hunt a variety of vertebrates as well as insects and sometimes crustaceans. Unlike true birds of prey, which first pluck their victims clean and then tear off pieces of flesh, owls swallow large pieces or entire small animals, without any preparation.
Larger owls, such as the Ural owl and long-eared owl, swallow beetles, mice and fieldmice whole. The indigestible parts — feathers, hairs, bones and hard insect covers — are regurgitated in solid lumps that look as if they have been pressed.
If these are carefully separated they will be found to contain entire skulls of fieldmice, mice and birds and the elytra and legs of beetles and other insects. This makes it possible to determine not only the quantity but also the kind of food consumed by the owl.
Since owls do not possess a crop in which to conserve a store of food, they often bring to their nest or hide more than they are able to consume in a day. When the female is incubating, the male often brings dozens of field mice or other small animals, to serve as a reserve supply in case the ensuing days should be Europe is the home of fourteen species of owls, most of them nocturnal birds.
The food they live on is the subject of study by countless ornithologists. They have found that the diet of the tawny owl, one of the most common of the European owls, consists mainly of fieldmice and mice. In the case of some individual owls, birds make up about 14 percent of the diet; of this half are sparrows, and the other half is made up of greenfinches, warblers, starlings and blackbirds.
These are birds which are normally found in abundance. If cockchafers are in large supply a great part of the owls’ food will be made up of these harmful pests.
In this case of the barn owl, small rodents, fieldmice and mice average about 69 percent of the diet, shrews 25 percent, birds only 3 percent and bats, amphibians and larger mammals make up the remainder. In years of ‘mouse’ overpopulation, the share of these rodents in this owl’s diet has been recorded as being as high as 95.7 percent.
The little owl also feeds mainly on fieldmice and mice, which together comprises usually 76 percent and occasionally as much as 100 percent of the bird’s diet. In the summer months insects make up a large proportion, but the little owl also hunts to a lesser extent shrews and small birds, mainly starlings, followed by house sparrows, blackbirds and thrushes, i.e. birds that are very plentiful and which, in some areas, have overmultiplied in recent years.
The above four species of owls are very common in Europe. Other types are much rarer, and some occur only sporadically. These, too, feed mostly on a variety of rodents and insects. The Eurasian eagle owl, the largest of the European species, is one of a number of owls that were almost on the brink of extinction in Europe and which now, thanks to stricter rules governing their protection, have again increased in number.
Even though it often feeds on wild game such as hare, rabbit, pheasant and wild duck, the greater part of the eagle owl’s diet is made up of field mice and mice, with hedgehogs and wild rabbits following closely behind. Among birds which it eats partridges and moorhens head the list, followed by large numbers of hooded crows and several birds of prey — — buzzards, kestrels, falcons and even other species of owls.
In lake regions, it feeds on various water birds and waders. Although the Eurasian eagle owl’s victims may occasionally be animals which serve a useful natural purpose, it should be given the fullest protection, not only because it is a rare species, but also because it generally kills weak or diseased animals, thus helping to maintain a balanced ecology.
Even today in some places hunters and gamekeepers take the young from the eagle owl’s nest and use them as bait to attract crows and predators, which are known for their hatred of owls and, in particular, of their greatest enemy, the eagle owl. They can spot it from a great distance and the instant they do so they attack without delay. Hunters take advantage of this fact, using an eagle owl as bait, fastened to a perch by leather thongs.
The hunter then conceals himself in a hide with a good view of his bait and waits with his gun cocked. The owl generally catches sight of the approaching predator while it is still some way off, and begins to rattle its bill. It often jumps from the perch to the ground, where it lies down on its back and spreads its talons in readiness to ward off the enemy.
This unsporting method of hunting is now forbidden in many European countries because it is necessary to protect both the eagle owl and the birds of prey. Hunters sometimes shoot a rare or useful predator.
Owls should be given protection throughout the whole year’ and there are many ways in which the ordinary layman can help them during the nesting period. This applies especially to those that nest in cavities such as the tawny owl, who would benefit greatly a nest box.
This is easily constructed and should be approx. 30 centimetres wide by 40 centimetres high with an entrance hole 13 centimetres square located in one of the upper corner’s box should be fastened to a tree about 6 to 8 metres above the ground and positioned preferably at the edge of the wood so that the owl can hunt in the surrounding fields.
For the little owl and Tengmalm’s owl, the nest box should be about 20 centimetres wide and 35 centimetres high and the width of the entrance hole about 9 centimetres. Small owls, such as the pygmy, will even make use of a sparrow’s nestbox, but prefer one made from a piece of hollowed-out tree trunk. This should be about 30 centimetres high, with an entrance hole about 5 centimetres across, and it should be hung 4 to 8 metres above the ground.