A resident Tawny Owl sitting cosy in their nest. The photo was taken last week in Paris, this particular nest has been used by tawny owls for at least 10 years (likely the same owl?)
That’s a great owl hole! Tawnies look so cuddly.
It’s not impossible that it’s the same owl. The normal life expectancy is 4-5 years in the wild, but they do stay in one area their whole life, so if it’s been able to defend its roost and manage to avoid injury, they can live up to 20 years.
So I went digging around for some of the older photos I’ve seen of the same spot and they seem to date from 2012-2015. I can’t tell if it’s the same individual but maybe someone with a more discerning eye will fare better?
Here’s another photo I took the week prior on a cloudy day:
In any case, the spot is next to a path that gets quite a bit of foot traffic (joggers, people walking dogs, people strolling with kids) so it’s not exactly quiet, but it doesn’t seem to be bothered.
That’s pretty cool you have such a well documented history of the roost!
Nothing jumps out to make me think it’s a different owl, so you may have a very successful owl there. If it is, or if it isn’t, you’ve got a beautiful Tawny.
Yeah I count myself very lucky someone shared the location with me. There is another well documented sedentary Tawny with photos going back to 2010. Sadly when I went back last week it wasn’t there, and another photographer passing through told me it hadn’t been seen for almost a year. Last time I saw it was March or April last year, so I fear it may have passed away. I’m hoping that’s not the case, and if it’s still around and I can get some shots I’ll share them here.
I’m also on the lookout for Long Eared Owls but those are going to be much more challenging to find.
That’s one of the tough things about animal friends. Often we’ll never know if something happened to them or if they just decided to move.
I checked last week about the Great Horned Owl nest we watched raise 2 babies last year and no one was there. One of the babies died of poisoning soon after it left the nest, so now we don’t know if any of them are alive or not. 😕
They’re in a big reserve, so they all could have just found other spots, but we may never know. It’s a good reminder to live in the moment and appreciate what we have when it’s there.
Ah man I’m so sorry about your owl friends :( you’re right though, it really is a great lesson in taking things as they are and living in the present. I wish you more happy owl encounters in the near future!
You as well! 🦉
I hear The Beach Boys in that picture.
