More Short-eared Owls at Elmley

1st February 2025

There are now 25 Short-eared Owls on site so a fairly reasonable chance of getting some photos. Many of the owls roost in the small plantation next to the Curlew pens. In fact two were roosting on the ground between the two and looked as if they were on charge. There were also at least three others in view in the plantation.

In mid-afternoon they start preparing for action and fly up on to posts within the plantation.

Then the flying begins. This first sequence was taken over the grassy area between the car park and the Curlew pens.

And this is the same owl taken from the track to the school house where the light is better.

It is very noticeable that this owl has damage to the primaries of its left wing. Short-eared Owls have 10 primaries, the 1st being on the outer leading edge of the wing. It can be seen from the photo that primaries 3 and 4 are completely missing and primary 6 is broken.

This can sometimes be due to a gun shot but not in this case, as a gun shot is unlikely to pull feathers out and there is no sign of small holes in the adjacent feathers. My suspicion is that primaries 3 and 4 have been pulled out during a skirmish with another owl.

The good news is that because primaries 3 and 4 have been pulled out they will re-grow over the next few weeks, whereas the broken primary 6 will not be replaced until the next wing moult in the autumn.