LITTLE OWLS - The Smallest UK Owl - Athene noctua

For a couple of seasons, I did not see any Little Owls and it was getting mildly annoying. I had a feeling that once I managed to actually see one and get close enough to film it, that I would then find another and so on. Sure enough, one day when searching open farmland, I got lucky and spotted a dumpy brown-gray bird perched on a post and watching intently. I knew what it was straight away although when I started to film it from a safe distance it took off. At least I had finally spotted one and that leads to another and another and another! I ended up with 4 different Little Owl territories and at least 2 of them in pairs and nesting. I tended to keep my distance from their nests as the birds would leave the area and not return for a couple of hours. Most sightings showed the Little Owl on some sort of perch, be it a post, a branch or a wall. Their hearing and eyesight enable Little Owls to locate not only the rustles and squeaks of mice and voles, but also moths, beetles, and earwigs, and they would prey on them from their perch. With such a relatively wide diet, their approach to hunting depends on prey availability. Unlike other Owls and Birds of Prey, their young rarely go hungry. If it starts to rain they quickly switch to earthworms and continue to bring these to the nest for as long as it rains. As you see in the video, the other 3 I found were usually perched in trees. They always spotted me first. This is a bonus as they are mostly staring straight at you! ◕‿◕ If you enjoyed this video would you kindly click the 👍 Like 👍 button. #birdofprey #littleowls #owls

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