Tawny owl        Kodukakk        Strix aluco

 

Let us begin the story as it was written on Thursday night when we were waiting for Klaara to arrive in the nest. She did not arrive in the nest until Friday morning at 6  o’clock. Thus she was absent from the nest for 11 hours.

On Friday night a little before seven o’clock first Klaara’s  calls were heard and then calls from Klaus - who was nearby - that could be classed as courting calls or calls inviting to mating. Only the first egg is in the nest after all and the following must be fertilized too. At 7 o’clock Klaara left the nest.

Tawny owls have the most nocturnal way of life, compared to our other owls. The male holds and defends the breeding territory, and the familiar ”uhuu“ is his so called territorial or contact call. More rarely a trembling „hoo- hoo-hoo“ is heard. The nesting period is long, you will surely hear all the described calls but maybe also such that we cannot offer an interpretation to.

So the egg was left on its own in the nest hollow for 11 hours. In earlier years it has happened that the female has been absent from the nest 3-4 hours when incubation already had started. It was not particularly cold outside, towards morning a little over a couple of degrees of cold – from this the egg should not turn cold throughout.

Klaara behaved in the same way as in the nights before the egg-laying when the  time in darkness was completely used for hunting. We will see how things turn out.