Last night all *** broke lose in the avairy and we went out and found an owl hanging onto the side.

 

I convinced him to leave (by way of a hockey stick and a little push) but he came back and sat on the fence. My sister said they hate flashes of light so she grabbed my camera and took like 100 pictures of him and still he did not budge finally i rocked the fence and he flew away and I have not seen him since but have been keeping a watch out for him.

 

So now I am worried, should I empty my avairy for a few days and lock everyone up tight in the breeding room, it will be crowed but I could do it???? So should I not be worried?

 

Oh some of the flashing in the owls face came up with pictures (thanks to auto focus)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He's a tawny frogmouth, not an owl They will chase anything that moves. Best bet would be to get a piece of shadecloth and put it over the aviary window at night like a curtain so that he can't see in Even if you took them out for a couple of days he'll probably still come back in the future.

 

I have had a kestrel try and catch my birds through the aviary and the stoopid lorikeet thought she would say hello and nearly lost her scone

I didn't know that there was a difference..

Yay i learnt something

Could it be after mice too .... ( not saying that you are unclean Av, Heck my floors sparkle now) but being in bush I will always get them

Yep Neat, Tawnys are part of the 'Nightjar' family. Closely related to owls but not owls

Beautiful shots too :hap:

WOW!!!

 

how cool is that

 

Hehehe I know something that dave ( hubby ) doesn't know :hap:

They are beautiful birds, they aren't birds of prey.

Great photos, this one seems a little tame as usually they flee at the first sight of people!

Edited October 1, 200816 yr by linda87

they're great pics... under the circumstances!

They are most definately birds of prey, they will eat anything that moves.

They are beautiful birds, they aren't birds of prey.

 

Yes they are... and very good ones at that!

 

Great photos AV... what a stunning bird. I'd try and cover the wire of a night. It may not be able to eat them through the wire, but could easily scare them to death. Good luck!

It could seriously injure them though if they were sleeping on the wire. My lorikeet was hanging off the aviary wire and a bird of prey flew down and bit her through the wire. She had a puncture wound on the top of her head and was lucky to survive!

It could seriously injure them though if they were sleeping on the wire. My lorikeet was hanging off the aviary wire and a bird of prey flew down and bit her through the wire. She had a puncture wound on the top of her head and was lucky to survive!

 

 

Yeah... agree with you. I just meant that budgie scare easily and it wouldn't even have to be ON the wire to do that! :hug:

Hmm do you all reckon it really is a tawny frogmouth? I thought it was until I saw the front on shots. I thought they had beady little hidden eyes, not big round ones? The tawny frogmouths we've had looked like tree stumps and you could hardly see the eyes and beak. But.... the rest of it does look a lot more like one than an owl so maybe there are different types or something.

 

Either way they are very cool shots of a rather scary looking enemy to your precious birds! I like the suggestion of covering the wire- would be good to see if that works

Edited October 1, 200816 yr by krosp

Definately a tawny, the ones you have seen are feeling sleeping :laughter: This guy is wide awakw and then they need those big eyes to spot their prey :laughter:

Ah that makes sense! I saw them during the daytime. Funny, it looks like they have a totally different face during the day and night!

Edited October 1, 200816 yr by krosp

They are most definately birds of prey, they will eat anything that moves.

 

Nope they are not birds of prey. Birds of prey are raptors, which the Tawny is not.

They take prey yes, but not like raptors do. Other birds such as Butcherbirds and Kookaburra's also take insects and mice yet are not birds of prey.

The difference? Raptors kill with their feet, the other birds use their beak only. You will also see a massive difference in the feet.

 

Do some research and you'll learn the difference :laughter:

They still take prey which is what makes them a bird of prey, I think you have it the wrong way around, they aren't raptors (raptor refers to the claws on the feet and the fact that they kill with them). Raptors are birds of prey and so are owls but owls aren't raptors :laughter:

 

I have studied zoology at uni and worked with birds of prey :laughter:

 

Here you go, I tracked down a dictionary definition for you:

 

bird of prey

 

 

noun

 

Definition:

 

bird that kills for food: a bird that kills for food and has sharp talons and a sharp curved beak. Owls, eagles, and hawks are birds of prey.

Edited October 1, 200816 yr by melbournebudgies

Owls are considered raptors :thumbs_up:

Your definition is correct - tawny's dont have the characteristic sharp talons and curved beak and are not an owl, eagle or hawk.

 

I work with wild birds too

 

A quick search of any ornithological guide or a look at the scientific classification will quickly tell you that tawny frogmouths are not birds of prey in the scientific sense of the term.

 

There are 7 families of raptors of which the tawny belongs to none:

 

Diurnal birds of prey:

Accipitridae

Pandionidae

Sagittariidae

Falconidae

Cathartidae

 

Nocturnal birds of prey:

Strigidae

Tytonidae

 

But anyway....

Edited October 1, 200816 yr by linda87

I agree entirely with you Linda that they aren't raptors, infact if you read my earlier post you will see that I said they aren't. It was driving me nuts so I spoke to the guy that does the bird research at work (I work for the vic dept of sustainability) and his response was:

 

'Birds of Prey' simply refers to a food choice, it has nothing to do with their anatomical make up. The term bird of prey can be loosely applied to any spoecies which catches it's prey LIVE, including birds like cormorants and indeed tawnys, a bird doesn't have to be a raptor to be a bird of prey.

 

At any rate I feel this is dragging AVs topic down so I won't argue the point any further.