h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

There's a tawny owl in the tree outside my window and she's making a tidy old racket!

kill it



RJR

They are noisy beasts aren't they.
We've some living near us and sometimes hear (and see) them in the trees round about.

Perhaps you should join in too-wit too-wit

At least tawny's are quieter than the local barn owls! They really kick up a din. I'm actually quite glad to hear them, we've seen quite a few rats on the railway embankment lately, in fact we've had our and a few of the local moggies lined up at the fence . Between them we may not have a problem for much longer.

Couple of these noisy beggars were floating around late last night:

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Great_Horned_Owl/sounds

Wow, they're big birds, after my own heart basically .

We've taken to putting out bird food in the middle of the garden after nightfall, tempting the rats out into the open to make them better targets for our local owls.

Yeah, they are big. They'll kill cats if given a chance

There seems to be some kind of truce between our remaining and the local bird population, she'll sit on top of the compost bin or one of the big logs waiting to get sawn up and just watch the birdies This really annoys the out of the cock robin that owns the garden, he buzzes her regularly! I think the reason the other birds tend to ignore her is that she does have a bell on her collar and unlike her late mother hasn't mastered the art of keeping it quiet.

We don't have many big birds capable of taking on a cat around here, the herons wouldn't and I don't think the ravens would either. I've only seen buzzards occasionally and then usually high up in an air burrent.