I had missed tawny owls as the species had grown rather quiet since perhaps April.
There were some vocalizations heard during early May when I believe the tawny owl chicks were about to fledge (Tawny owl observations (ca. May 5 – 9, 2024) – using vocalizations to entice the young out of the nest?).
After that, tawny owls were heard very seldom if at all.
Certainly, thence it does not follow that the tawny owls were quiet.
I believe they were using short-range vocalizations to communicate at close range, and what I did not hear was hooting.
However, I did not hear the ‘squeakier’ vocalizations produced by females and chicks, either.
They are quiet enough to be missed, especially, as the tawny owls do not reside near the trails I am taking and their activity centre is also located further from the more disturbed areas.
Still, I used to hear the ‘squeaks’ in one of the families in late April, early May but not in late May, early June.
I suppose that the families were exploring and utilizing the more secluded parts of their range, neared the dense forests.
It seems that, during this time, the parents were keeping a very close eye on the young.
I had imagined right after fledgling (or at least right after the ‘owls-in-the trees’ phase when the owlets are not very… flighty yet but they rather spend their time in the branches near the nest), the parents would use loud vocalizations to track their young.
It was not so. Apparently, the young were not let out of sight and it was rather clear to the parents, without the need to communicate across long distances, where their chicks were.
This was also true in the more recent family which used to hoot intensely during late winter, early spring up to the hatching time and briefly thereafter (compared to the established couple, their neighbours).
I believe the new couple simply needed the vocalizations to navigate their range and to stay in contact as well as to pair bond and perhaps to express their various states (first time parents would be more expressedly emotional than parents who are more confident and whose joys and worries have perhaps become more subtle and internalized).
Interestingly, at times it appeared to me that the neighbouring males were hooting out each from their respective nest sites during dawn, and that the older male’s hooting (despite them being competitors) soothed the younger male.
I though the young couple, assuredly, would have a difficult time after the fledging but they must be very dedicated and maybe, due to their eagerness and dedication as young parents, they might have guarded the chicks even more closely than the experienced owls.
To conclude, neither of the families emitted much of long-range vocalizations during May and the first half of June.
In mid-June, however (slightly after mid-June, Jun 14 – 18, 2024), the hooting was resumed and I also heard the ‘squeaks’ by the owlets.
On Jun 14, I even observed an owlet interacting with a cat in our park area which is in the town already and, after that, I heard owlets near highly disturbed areas which they had not frequented before and which their parents, too, largely avoided during the nesting period (some more than others as some are subjected to much higher levels of disturbance than others).
It seems that the owlets have gained the knowledge of their parents’ core range and they have begun discovering the marginal areas (closer to human habitation and further from the secluded forests).
During these visitations, the owlets produce plenty of ‘squeaks’. They sound a bit like squeaky toys.
I wonder if this means they are travelling and discovering the world together (with other owlets of their brood or even with parents).
For example, my observation on June 14, started when I heard some squeaks in the canopy of an alley linden right above a street lamp.
At first, I paid little attention because it was a sound which could have been given out by many suburban birds (e.g., starlings, blackbirds) but then I realized it was night-time. Something was afoot.
I noticed a cat on the paved walkway, and it was staring up at the canopy.
I recognized that the squeaks were quite tawny, and, indeed, an owlet (smaller than a full-sized owl) emerged from the canopy striking at the cat.
I did not come by an impression that the owlet was hunting the cat (they were both of approximately equal size, it was an adult cat), nor the owlet truly dove low enough to touch the cat.
Perhaps they had had a misunderstanding over some prey, or the owlet, upon one of its first adventures near the town, had encountered a cat for the first time in its life (this particular family lives in an area where there might not be any cats whatsoever).
The owlet was squealing but it did not sound aggressive, nor the owlet appeared to have been in great fright.
It is possible that the owlet was simply expressing its excitement (to itself) but as owls are quiet predators, I find it rather hard to believe that the species would have evolved such noisy manifestations elation which are only aimed at oneself.
There could have been another owlet nearby. If there had been an adult owl, as well, it might have fended the cat off. The owlet(s) must have been on a ‘teenagers only’ outing.
Eventually, the cat ran off into the forest (there are houses on the other side of this forest band), and the owlet(s) did not vocalize anymore.
After this observation, over the course of the following nights, I heard owlets squealing deeper in the same forest near the walkway and also in the private garden allotment area which is outside of town but where there are some houses and dogs.
The latter were owlets from the other (more recent) tawny owl family. Their parents also hunt in that area during winter and early spring although they seemed to prefer hunting grounds further from the specific sites the owlets were exploring as those sites were in highly disturbed areas.
These owlets were squeaking in an apple orchard.
It seems that the owlets are no longer wary (which would send them up mature, tall trees with their dense canopies enclosed with other nearby trees) and, in their confidence, they are discovering ‘the terrains’ of low and sparse tree canopies (alley trees, orchard apple trees).
The experienced couple did not hunt near the town at all during the nesting period.
During this period, some hooting was also heard which were probably the adults’ vocalizations.
One would assume that the hooting would be, as well, aimed at locating the owlets (as these have begun venturing far and perhaps on their own) or even at resolving some possible conflicts among neighbours as the owlets might inadvertently (or deliberately) trespass.
However, the hoots were not heard near the sites where the squeaks were heard (on the other hand, if the owlets were squeaking, the parents might have been in no need to hoot as the chicks had already been found).
They were definitely not heard anywhere near territorial boundaries.
In fact, most of the hoots sounded from areas that lie on the distal verge of the pairs’ winter ranges or even slightly outside of them.
It was almost as if the owls were beginning to look into prospects for their chicks.
Tawny owlets remain with their parents until autumn (perhaps October) but I wonder if the parents might be preparing the chicks for independent life and for the separation that awaits them in the future.
The visiting of the distal areas might simply suggest that the parents are now free to hunt extensively and they are no longer centering as closely near the owlets.
The owlets might even be accompanying the parents on hunt and starting to learn hunting techniques.
Accordingly, it might be profitable for the adults to lead the owlets to a variety of hunting habitats, including less optimal, less secluded ones so that the owlets gained a diverse experience in handling themselves.
There is one peculiarity, namely, that the hoots were not heard from distal ranges bordering other pairs’ territories but rather from areas where no other owls reside nearby.
I do not think that our local tawny owl population is saturated yet and it is yet expanding.
I wonder if the parents are gradually examining the possibilities for their chicks to take residence once the autumn falls.
Tawny owl parents have seemed very concerned with the welfare of their chicks, and I find it difficult to believe that, in autumn, they would have the hearts to simply kick them out.
What if the parents also actively invest in ensuring that their chicks have safe routes or even vacant ranges to immigrate into?
This would explain the hooting in areas where the adult pair did not use to hunt during winter and where owls do not seem to reside at all.
Perhaps, currently, the owlets are not even involved in this prospecting and the parents are communicating with one another or perhaps even with other owls from other families which might be, too, watching out for their kids’ future.
***
On Jun 19, I definitely heard at least two owlets in the orchard who were squeaking in response to one another. Thus, it can be claimed they explore their home at least in pairs.
Notes by Ieva 