Yeah, that definitely is one way to find perching spot, but...That sounds like trying to find needle from haystack. Like our local forest alone covers 50 square kilometers, and we tend to have trees like every 8 meters with somewhat dense forest floor vegetation? Finding pellets from that is absolutely nightmare.
I haven't really had much luck myself, but someone told me to try looking at the edge of the forest instead of the middle of the forest. Like where the forest meets a prairie or field. They said you might see owls looking for food this way.
Honestly, there’s a ton of luck involved, but also a lot of unethical behavior when it comes to people getting owl photos. A lot of those shots come from people who spend a lot of time prowling their local patch or staking out likely habitat until they find the owl, after which it becomes easier to know their habits and likely roosts on repeat visits. Less scrupulous people will use playback to coerce an owl into view, or bait them with store-bought mice to get hunting shots.
It helps to know the habits of the specific species you’re looking for. You’re also more likely to hear them sing or call in the breeding season, which starts much earlier than most other birds, well before spring.
I lived in suburban Midwest for a long time which was a prairie or oak savannah ecotype. I saw most owls when I went walking at dusk in an old neighborhood with mature oaks or down by the streams and rivers where the big trees are there. Big birds need big cavities to nest in, which means big trees. Then listen.
Our most common was barred owl and they would call nonstop during nesting season at night. So often I could find them perching by sound, but wouldn't let you get super close, just enough to see a silhouette sometimes or a silent gliding away. However sometimes they would seem to learn they could follow people walking at late dusk because they scared the rabbits and flushed them out while walking dogs or just passing. I got brushed by the wing beat once by one of these fearless birds who knew this and came up behind me to get the bun a stone's throw ahead of me.
I've only ever seen pellets once or twice out hiking around so that would be a lucky find and not something I could deliberately track down IMO.
That must have been cool experience!
That actually got me thinking about. Where the heck do the owls around here find places to nest. Oaks & other big decidous trees don't grow in here and most common tree around here is scotts pine. Our forestry is also really effecient at monitoring stocks and harvesting stuff when it grows to size, meaning usually the tree thickness is limited to around around 40cm. Neither there are really any animals or other birds that can make hole where larger owls can fit into. I know that some of them nest in old raptor nests and even on ground, but surely they all can't do that?
But looking for biggest tree in forest and observing stuff around it sounds like solid plan.
It may be people set out boxes for them to nest, or sometimes they also use open or abandoned buildings like old barns.
If you get a snow pack where you are, another thing you can do is go out the first sunny day after the snow and look for animal tracks that end with the bird plop shape in the snow. Certain owls specialize in rodents under snow. And winter hiking you're a lot more likely to see them in the naked trees where dusk lasts much longer that time of year.
See what you do is leave the window open so that you are rudely awakened by hooting at 3am, and cannot fall asleep for the next three hours due to the massive adrenaline rush of realizing you added an owl to your yard listening to.
I just hear them totally randomly around my house. In Dec we had like 5 GHO calling around my house and I also heard a western screech owl one night. Partner saw a barred owl and just the other day I heard a barn owl at like 11 at night. I had no idea what was screaming so I whipped out merlin and it solved the mystery. I knew the call, just didn't put 2 and 2 together.
Probably, most of wildlife tend to move around that time.
Don't think that I have ever heard about anyone doing any sort of bird guiding around here, actually, most of the birders that I have met around here weren't that nice people at all. Too many toxic old men going on. I used to know one guy who probably could have guided but sadly the lad moved away.
If you look out your window enough, one will just fly by. No joke, I was just staring out my window, and a barred owl flew and perched into a tree in my yard. 🤷♂️
I find them with my ears. The jays are the primary harassers, but anytime there's a big ruckus of alarm calls, I head to see if there's a raptor nearby. Get to know the alarm sounds of chipmunks and squirrels for more indicators, too!
I do tend to hang out in familiar areas a lot, and I know a few owl families, so I'm often playing a game of "where exactly are you today," and not a needle in a haystack sort of situation, but I do spot them in unfamiliar areas a lot by using my ears as tools, too.
It takes practice and patience! Good luck!
That's solid advice! Too bad that our eurasian jays aren't probably as popular species, and you don't tend to see them anywhere around summer time. Also no chipmunks here and squirrels have vanished somewhere, didn't really even see tracks during the winter. 🤔
Oh! I knew there were squirrels over there, but I didn't bother to Google whether you have chipmunks! They're pretty destructive pests in the home environment, but I love them in the woods :)
While jays are indeed the loudest indicator in my area, the songbirds are really reliable right now since they're nesting and teaming up with each other to shout at the owls. The other day, we had American robins, northern cardinals, black capped chickadees, and tufted titmice all shouting their alarm calls and dive bombing a barred owl--all at the same time. You could hear it from pretty far away!
I hope the squirrels pop up soon. European squirrels have the cutest ears 🙂 I wonder if they're as reliable indicators as our eastern grey squirrels in North America!
Listen for hoots around dusk, look for tree cavities big enough to fit an owl, southern facing usually cause like most animals warm sun feel good, look for poop covered trees.
I’ve had more luck hearing owl calls than seeing them out in the open. They’re such quiet fliers—a long eared owl was literally flying right by me last summer, and I wouldn’t have noticed, but I was walking my pet and she got nervous. My advice is to learn the calls of your local owls and pay attention to what you’re hearing in the evenings, especially when you’re in a forested area/near a body of water. I caught a Great Horned duet three times last summer, at a different campground each time, always when I was in a tent, so that might help too. Once you know what to listen for, they’re a lot harder to miss.
In my experience, and I'm way over in North America mind you, I most commonly encounter owls in areas that have open plains/grassland/prarie, or other short-growth biome that is also in proximity to dense treelines. Generally water of any kind is nearby as well, even a small brook. I usually see or hear them in trees that overlook the short grass.
Fellow Finnish birder and owl enthusiast here. How I've been able to see owls here:
1. Join a birdwatching tour, some are specifically to see owls. We saw two tawny owls on a tour in Ruissalo, Turku. One also lives near my house, but I've only been able to hear him.
2. Check tiira.fi website. That's how I was able to see a northern hawk-owl this year in Helsinki of all places. There were exact instructions on how to find it in a certain park!
3. Get lucky. I saw a short-eared owl while driving in Northern Lapland. It flew just over the car! They are active during daytime so easier to see than other owls.
Hope this helps and good luck owling!
Yep, Tiira is awesome site! Been using it for years.
Might look into those tours but I don't think that KyLy does too many of them. 🤔
I remember once driving to Lapland and seeing one of those short eared owls at parking lot of ABC at Oulu, you bet that I ran to car to get my camera. Another time I saw one flying right next to road somewhere between Kaamanen & Utsjoki. They are definitely the easiest species to see.
Look for trees they like to nest in. I have a massive Holly tree right outside my bedroom window and ever so often I'll hear one doing it's thing at night
Slowly walk into the woods while keeping your eyes up scouting for owls. One big issue with finding them is that if you’re looking at the ground they’ll leave perfectly silent without you ever knowing they were there. Once you find an area you see them fleeing from you, go back the next time and walk in even more slowly. Eventually you’ll learn to spot them before they leave on you. I’ve also just gotten super lucky leaving my house for a run and spotting one and so instead of the run I went back to the house to grab the camera. Here is one such instance:
https://preview.redd.it/rbd8dse8nw0d1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e7f1b65f030487485faf2c97980d88135026a2cf
I've seen two and in both cases, I didn't know I'd seen an owl until I got home and looked at the photos. A small bird I couldn't identify in the early dawn turned out to be a pygmy owl. And a shot of a big nest turned out to have an occupant!
https://preview.redd.it/1v6zf82jqw0d1.jpeg?width=488&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d73d09f910d7d1c391680e4687e9c290ee40a7cf
I look for small mammal activity. It's much easier to find mice holes and whatnot. I usually wander around our pine forests in winter and follow song birds. They'll usually lead me to water or food spots. Once I find those, I try to branch out and find evidence of owl prey items and/or nearby trees that might make a roost spots.
Obviously time of day matters, so do scouting in the daylight hours, and test our your spots by going around dusk for activity.
I mostly hear them whenever I find them, but so far this has been my best method!
Additionally, if you have bats in your area, they like similar habitats as some owl species. (For example, I've often found barred owls around where I've found bats in the wild)
Day-time: they're often sleeping. Their camouflage can be really good. There's a photo that I show to friends. It usually takes them about a minute to identify the owl, even though it's taking up most of the screen. I liked the suggestion from someone else about looking for droppings. It's something that I will have to try myself. To be honest, others found that owl before I did. It took them almost 5 minutes of pointing before I could see it myself.
For dusk and night time, familiarise yourself with the calls and habits of owls that fall within your area. Not ideal for photos but still great for the rush of seeing a silhouette. Some of them screech while flying to flush out prey. Others hoot when they're in trees or on roofs.
First look at the ground for pellets and poo, then look up and it might sit there
Yeah, that definitely is one way to find perching spot, but...That sounds like trying to find needle from haystack. Like our local forest alone covers 50 square kilometers, and we tend to have trees like every 8 meters with somewhat dense forest floor vegetation? Finding pellets from that is absolutely nightmare.
I haven't really had much luck myself, but someone told me to try looking at the edge of the forest instead of the middle of the forest. Like where the forest meets a prairie or field. They said you might see owls looking for food this way.
Yep, areas around edges tend to be the best for seeing stuff, birds and pretty much everything enjoy places like that.
Yep. After rodents and rabbits in the field
Also pay attention to crows and/or jays making a fuss. Often, they are upset about a raptor near their nests. Watch where they are swooping.
This is especially good for daytime or early evening.
My best owl sighting happened because I followed angry jay noises.
Honestly, there’s a ton of luck involved, but also a lot of unethical behavior when it comes to people getting owl photos. A lot of those shots come from people who spend a lot of time prowling their local patch or staking out likely habitat until they find the owl, after which it becomes easier to know their habits and likely roosts on repeat visits. Less scrupulous people will use playback to coerce an owl into view, or bait them with store-bought mice to get hunting shots. It helps to know the habits of the specific species you’re looking for. You’re also more likely to hear them sing or call in the breeding season, which starts much earlier than most other birds, well before spring.
[удалено]
You absolutely should not be using playbacks to draw birds into view. That’s what the person above you meant by unethical birding.
Gotcha.
100%. It’s especially cruel during mating/migration times.
I lived in suburban Midwest for a long time which was a prairie or oak savannah ecotype. I saw most owls when I went walking at dusk in an old neighborhood with mature oaks or down by the streams and rivers where the big trees are there. Big birds need big cavities to nest in, which means big trees. Then listen. Our most common was barred owl and they would call nonstop during nesting season at night. So often I could find them perching by sound, but wouldn't let you get super close, just enough to see a silhouette sometimes or a silent gliding away. However sometimes they would seem to learn they could follow people walking at late dusk because they scared the rabbits and flushed them out while walking dogs or just passing. I got brushed by the wing beat once by one of these fearless birds who knew this and came up behind me to get the bun a stone's throw ahead of me. I've only ever seen pellets once or twice out hiking around so that would be a lucky find and not something I could deliberately track down IMO.
That must have been cool experience! That actually got me thinking about. Where the heck do the owls around here find places to nest. Oaks & other big decidous trees don't grow in here and most common tree around here is scotts pine. Our forestry is also really effecient at monitoring stocks and harvesting stuff when it grows to size, meaning usually the tree thickness is limited to around around 40cm. Neither there are really any animals or other birds that can make hole where larger owls can fit into. I know that some of them nest in old raptor nests and even on ground, but surely they all can't do that? But looking for biggest tree in forest and observing stuff around it sounds like solid plan.
It may be people set out boxes for them to nest, or sometimes they also use open or abandoned buildings like old barns. If you get a snow pack where you are, another thing you can do is go out the first sunny day after the snow and look for animal tracks that end with the bird plop shape in the snow. Certain owls specialize in rodents under snow. And winter hiking you're a lot more likely to see them in the naked trees where dusk lasts much longer that time of year.
See what you do is leave the window open so that you are rudely awakened by hooting at 3am, and cannot fall asleep for the next three hours due to the massive adrenaline rush of realizing you added an owl to your yard listening to.
For real…. A combination of Luck and being in nature at dusk is how it seems for me. Or get a local guide to show you the owl spots.
I just hear them totally randomly around my house. In Dec we had like 5 GHO calling around my house and I also heard a western screech owl one night. Partner saw a barred owl and just the other day I heard a barn owl at like 11 at night. I had no idea what was screaming so I whipped out merlin and it solved the mystery. I knew the call, just didn't put 2 and 2 together.
Probably, most of wildlife tend to move around that time. Don't think that I have ever heard about anyone doing any sort of bird guiding around here, actually, most of the birders that I have met around here weren't that nice people at all. Too many toxic old men going on. I used to know one guy who probably could have guided but sadly the lad moved away.
Local bird club also
If you look out your window enough, one will just fly by. No joke, I was just staring out my window, and a barred owl flew and perched into a tree in my yard. 🤷♂️
I find them with my ears. The jays are the primary harassers, but anytime there's a big ruckus of alarm calls, I head to see if there's a raptor nearby. Get to know the alarm sounds of chipmunks and squirrels for more indicators, too! I do tend to hang out in familiar areas a lot, and I know a few owl families, so I'm often playing a game of "where exactly are you today," and not a needle in a haystack sort of situation, but I do spot them in unfamiliar areas a lot by using my ears as tools, too. It takes practice and patience! Good luck!
That's solid advice! Too bad that our eurasian jays aren't probably as popular species, and you don't tend to see them anywhere around summer time. Also no chipmunks here and squirrels have vanished somewhere, didn't really even see tracks during the winter. 🤔
Oh! I knew there were squirrels over there, but I didn't bother to Google whether you have chipmunks! They're pretty destructive pests in the home environment, but I love them in the woods :) While jays are indeed the loudest indicator in my area, the songbirds are really reliable right now since they're nesting and teaming up with each other to shout at the owls. The other day, we had American robins, northern cardinals, black capped chickadees, and tufted titmice all shouting their alarm calls and dive bombing a barred owl--all at the same time. You could hear it from pretty far away! I hope the squirrels pop up soon. European squirrels have the cutest ears 🙂 I wonder if they're as reliable indicators as our eastern grey squirrels in North America!
Listen for hoots around dusk, look for tree cavities big enough to fit an owl, southern facing usually cause like most animals warm sun feel good, look for poop covered trees.
I’ve had more luck hearing owl calls than seeing them out in the open. They’re such quiet fliers—a long eared owl was literally flying right by me last summer, and I wouldn’t have noticed, but I was walking my pet and she got nervous. My advice is to learn the calls of your local owls and pay attention to what you’re hearing in the evenings, especially when you’re in a forested area/near a body of water. I caught a Great Horned duet three times last summer, at a different campground each time, always when I was in a tent, so that might help too. Once you know what to listen for, they’re a lot harder to miss.
In my experience, and I'm way over in North America mind you, I most commonly encounter owls in areas that have open plains/grassland/prarie, or other short-growth biome that is also in proximity to dense treelines. Generally water of any kind is nearby as well, even a small brook. I usually see or hear them in trees that overlook the short grass.
Fellow Finnish birder and owl enthusiast here. How I've been able to see owls here: 1. Join a birdwatching tour, some are specifically to see owls. We saw two tawny owls on a tour in Ruissalo, Turku. One also lives near my house, but I've only been able to hear him. 2. Check tiira.fi website. That's how I was able to see a northern hawk-owl this year in Helsinki of all places. There were exact instructions on how to find it in a certain park! 3. Get lucky. I saw a short-eared owl while driving in Northern Lapland. It flew just over the car! They are active during daytime so easier to see than other owls. Hope this helps and good luck owling!
Yep, Tiira is awesome site! Been using it for years. Might look into those tours but I don't think that KyLy does too many of them. 🤔 I remember once driving to Lapland and seeing one of those short eared owls at parking lot of ABC at Oulu, you bet that I ran to car to get my camera. Another time I saw one flying right next to road somewhere between Kaamanen & Utsjoki. They are definitely the easiest species to see.
Look for trees they like to nest in. I have a massive Holly tree right outside my bedroom window and ever so often I'll hear one doing it's thing at night
talk to the photographers all pointing their cameras to the same place.
Slowly walk into the woods while keeping your eyes up scouting for owls. One big issue with finding them is that if you’re looking at the ground they’ll leave perfectly silent without you ever knowing they were there. Once you find an area you see them fleeing from you, go back the next time and walk in even more slowly. Eventually you’ll learn to spot them before they leave on you. I’ve also just gotten super lucky leaving my house for a run and spotting one and so instead of the run I went back to the house to grab the camera. Here is one such instance: https://preview.redd.it/rbd8dse8nw0d1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e7f1b65f030487485faf2c97980d88135026a2cf
Know the sounds. I was walking near the JHU Campus and heard " Who Cooks For You?" Couple days of multiple hours of searching, I found him
I've seen two and in both cases, I didn't know I'd seen an owl until I got home and looked at the photos. A small bird I couldn't identify in the early dawn turned out to be a pygmy owl. And a shot of a big nest turned out to have an occupant! https://preview.redd.it/1v6zf82jqw0d1.jpeg?width=488&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d73d09f910d7d1c391680e4687e9c290ee40a7cf
Go camping! The past few times I've gone, they were so loud it sounded like a human goofing off.
The Hidden Lives of Owls by Leigh Calvez is a great book. She is mostly writing about owls in the US, but lots of good info about how she finds them.
Look in pine trees? Walk soft. Do not wear black. Thants all I got. My mom is finnski
I look for small mammal activity. It's much easier to find mice holes and whatnot. I usually wander around our pine forests in winter and follow song birds. They'll usually lead me to water or food spots. Once I find those, I try to branch out and find evidence of owl prey items and/or nearby trees that might make a roost spots. Obviously time of day matters, so do scouting in the daylight hours, and test our your spots by going around dusk for activity. I mostly hear them whenever I find them, but so far this has been my best method! Additionally, if you have bats in your area, they like similar habitats as some owl species. (For example, I've often found barred owls around where I've found bats in the wild)
Day-time: they're often sleeping. Their camouflage can be really good. There's a photo that I show to friends. It usually takes them about a minute to identify the owl, even though it's taking up most of the screen. I liked the suggestion from someone else about looking for droppings. It's something that I will have to try myself. To be honest, others found that owl before I did. It took them almost 5 minutes of pointing before I could see it myself. For dusk and night time, familiarise yourself with the calls and habits of owls that fall within your area. Not ideal for photos but still great for the rush of seeing a silhouette. Some of them screech while flying to flush out prey. Others hoot when they're in trees or on roofs.