The tawny owlets have taken over an apple orchard and the nearby riparian forest edge which is rather far from their nest (not too far, perhaps 1 km) (see Tawny owl observations (mid-June, 2024) – resumed long-range vocalizations).
There they are acting a bit like hoodlums, raising ruckus in the formerly peaceful neighbourhood but I do not believe anybody minds because it is a more active and boisterous time in most if not all families with kits and fawns out and about.
All through the night of June 19, the tawny owlets were perching in the taller forest trees on the verge of the orchard or flying through the orchard and settling in the apple trees.
I could not observe their activities but their endeavours were accompanied by squeaky exchanges between siblings.
I never heard an adult squeaking (I suppose the term is ‘keewik’), nor hooting but that does not mean that an adult was not nearby or that the chicks were not regularly checked upon by mommy and daddy (after all, they are still fed by parents).
The owlets also took flights over the river but once they left the forest/orchard, they were quiet.
I was fortunate to observe one of them on wing (which is how I was perfectly assured it was an owlet, not an adult).
Later, around the sunrise (4.15 – 4.30 am), we (my dog and I) were sitting further upstream from the owlet gang.
Suddenly, we heard a vocalization which I have never heard before, including in the films about tawny owls (but maybe I have missed out on it).
I was sure it was a tawny owlet and the call had its squeaky toy quality to it. However, it mainly resembled yelps by an upset puppy.
In fact, we were both quite stirred. While the vocalization certainly did not suggest that the individual was in pain (truthfully, it gave off airs of a war-cry but by someone who only has been playing ‘battles’ and then has found themselves in an actual situation), the resemblance was just a bit too much for my dog who is very maternal and for me.
We both half-rose but I told my dog it was just the tawny owl.
We listened, and I was startled at the vocalization and I tried to understand its context.
It was all happening rather far (downstream) and we could not see anything but we could hear it very well due to the manner in which sound travels over water (particularly, the straight river stretch which is rather open above).
Clearly, something was afoot because the calling owlet was flying around in the riparian forest, and I suppose that everybody by the river (as evidenced by the roe deer male, see below) was just up and alert.
The squeaky yelps were exchanged by dramatic and vigorous splashing.
It sounded as if a hippopotamus had slipped on a rock while crossing the river.
Fish can be very loud when they are crossing some of the rapids and shallows. Especially, these days when the water level has dropped and, in most parts, the depth of the river does not exceed 50 – 100 cm. In many places, it is lesser than 30 cm.
However, the sound was not emanated from a reach where there are rapids and true shallows even though water truly is shallow there (ca. 30 – 50 cm) and quite weedy.
Riparian forest grows on both sides but the river channel itself is open (no closed canopies).
As it could not have been a fish crossing rapids and as the incident was preceded by the owlets squeak-yelps (also, during the incident itself, no vocalizations were heard by the owlet), I assumed that the owlet was hunting something in the river.
The splashing and struggling was resumed several seconds later, and then it all fell quiet but for a roe deer buck who started barking and trotting.
I believe it was a fish that the owlet was hunting.
While the roe deer male’s upset might suggest the owlet could have been in conflict with a fawn, it was probably not the case because:
- Fawns are very large already and I doubt a tawny owlet would even attack a smaller fawn;
- The male retreated deeper into his range and, as he was still barking, I reckoned he was the male whose fawn was located at least 300 m from the place of incident.
I believe, the roe deer male was simply startled and perhaps somewhat disgruntled with the owlet’s behaviour and the overall change in pace/quietude that the owlets have brought precisely to his home range.
The owlet could not have been hunting any other of the potential prey but fish, either, because there were no other vocalizations/responses.
Mink kittens are currently very tiny and they could fall prey to tawny owlets as they are sneaking around the shallow waters which in some spots have dried out near the shore.
The water is altogether so shallow that a tawny would perhaps not have to dive for a mink kit or a fish.
There are several adult ducks in the particular river stretch and at least one family of a female mallard and her ducklings.
However, such attacks would have been accompanied by hissing or quacking.
This incident was deadly silent but for the splashing.
Tawny owl parents still provide food for their owlets but apparently these owlets are taking on hunting adventures and not limiting themselves to the ‘more traditional’ owl prey (rodents, shrews, small birds).
I suppose they are flying around and opportunistically engaging with the species they come across.
However, I find it a bit peculiar that the owlet was vocalizing for many seconds before the splashing began.
If the attack was opportunistic, it would have followed the sequence of ‘I noticed – I attacked’.
In this case, the owlet was flying about (near the river but not over it) and only then the splashing occurred.
Opportunistic hunting would involve perhaps attacks on vulnerable fish that are, as mentioned before, crossing rapids.
In this case, the fish were not crossing rapids but they were also ‘out of depths’ (i.e., they were in a relatively shallow part of the river).
Perhaps the owlet spotted a larger fish and it could not decide what to do as this might have been its first experience of hunting fish.
Maybe it needed to boost its own spirit or to gather its siblings so that it had company in this adventure.
Or perhaps it was a conflict of a different nature, e.g., between the owlet and the buck.
The buck, however, had not been barking before, and I cannot imagine how the two would have gotten entangled in an interaction.
Also, the owlets seem wary of larger animals (e.g., when we walked near the area where they were hanging out and exchanging squeak messages, they fell absolutely quiet but I cannot say that my dog and I are absolutely that much more gigantic than a roe deer buck).
I suppose that the upcoming weeks will be exciting with the owlets seeking their own entertainment and entertaining everyone else (with the exception perhaps of voles and fish).
Notes by Ieva 