Not sure whether it is down to chance or fate, but so far I have come across the long-eared owl much more often than any other owl. I do hope that the future holds many more encounters in store for me. The long-eared owl may well be reasonably common, but given its secretive and nocturnal habits it often goes unnoticed. In all the five years that I have taken part in the nationwide survey of nocturnal raptors, not a single long-eared owl has ever been willing to show itself. And yet I know full well that they are around.
Being almost exclusively nocturnal, observations of this owl during daylight hours are usually no more than the sight of an obscure shape hidden in its well protected roost high up in a tree . Occasionally a piercing yellow-orange eye is picked out by an ephemeral ray of sun struggling through the dense growth.
My most memorable encounter with the long-eared owl occured in Romania. I happened to stumble across a particularly cooperatif roosting congregation of owls that gave me the opportunity to discover the many facial expressions of this species.
Below you’ll find my collection of images of this owl, from individuals in Romania, Germany and Creuse.
