How to Find an Owl - Roosts, Pellets, and Calls
Tips For Locating Owls During the Day and at Night
Mar 17, 2009
Most owls are nocturnal predators, hunting for rodents, smaller birds, insects and other small creatures with their keen hearing and sharp eyesight. During the day, they rest in evergreens, cavities in old trees, abandoned buildings and other concealed locations. Most people rarely see or even hear an owl.
Owls Active in Daylight
A few owl species hunt in daylight, typically in open areas such as meadows, marshes, heaths, sand dunes, and tundra. The Snowy Owl sits on a fencepost or other high points, or flies near the ground in search of prey. The Burrowing Owl, another day hunter, runs on the ground or hovers and dives. Burrowing Owls often sit on the ground near the entrance to their nest burrow for long periods.
A good strategy for finding owls hunting in daylight is to scan the tops of tall objects near open areas where rodents and other small animals are likely to be abundant. In woods, watch for disturbance in the branches above.
Find a Roosting Owl in Daylight
Some owls, like the Barn Owl roost in abandoned buildings. Others roost in tree cavities where they are difficult to observe. Even those that roost in trees take patience and skill to locate:
- Look for roosting owls in evergreen trees or dense vines. In trees, they stay close to the trunk and choose spots that are obscured by other limbs, which makes it difficult to pick out their distinctive shape.
- Examine the ground at the base of likely trees for owl pellets—small sausage shaped bundles of fur, feathers, bones, beaks etc. Owls regurgitate at least one pellet a day: if a bird returns to the same roost frequently, there will be a number of pellets on the ground. A fresh pellet means you’re probably close to a roosting owl.
- Check the ground and lower branches of trees for whitewash, the telltale droppings of a roosting bird.
- Pay attention to other birds, particularly crows, blackbirds, magpies, even chickadees. If these birds discover an owl, they harass and mob it noisily. Roosting owls don’t move on easily, giving the birder time to discover what the crows are excited about.
- Check evergreens lower down as well as tall trees: smaller owls often roost at eye level.
See Nocturnal Owls at Dawn and Dusk
Few people see owls once it’s fully dark, but the night hunters often perch in the open or linger near forest edges near dusk and dawn, and even through the day if it’s overcast. Check for their silhouettes on telephone poles, in tall trees or even on top of buildings. In wooded areas, look up.
Listen for Owls at Night
Once it’s dark, the nocturnal owls are active and hunting but they’re only visible if they pass very close. To enjoy owls at night, birders learn their distinctive calls and can even imitate the calls and get the birds to answer. Some birders use taped calls to find owls. This technique shouldn’t be overused however, especially during the breeding season as it harasses the birds and can disrupt their hunting and breeding activities.
Owl watchers sometimes find, to their discomfort, that owls are watching them. It’s wonderful to come eye to eye with an owl, but disturb the bird as little as possible and don’t linger. Remember this is distracting it from hunting for food or keeping it from much needed rest.
Sources:
Birding in Metro Halifax. Stevens, Clarence. Halifax: Nimbus; 1996.
Firefly Encyclopedia of Birds. Perrins, Christopher ed. Buffalo: Firefly Books, 2003
How to Spot an Owl. Sutton, Patricia and Clay Sutton. New York: Houghton Mifflin. 1994.
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