G'day Birders,
like others I have followed this thread with interest. As has
been said by others, Owlets can be incredibly common, to the point that when
doing owl surveys I knew I had a quiet site when I didn't hear one calling.
This is possibly because the best way to find out if they are around is to
scare them by making a loud noise, like a really loud owl playback. Sneezing
also works, as does slamming car doors or tripping over, though it can be
difficult to concentrate on bird calls when disentangling yourself from the
undergrowth.
As for actually seeing one, that's different. The last few I've seen I head
calling during the day, which they do a lot, and was able to find the hollow it
was calling from. I've never found one by tree tapping / scrapping alone,
though this has yielded Barn Owl and Squirrel Glider in the last 6 months.
Learning the call is the best way of finding if they are in the area, but to
see one takes time, sometimes lots of times, took me 8 - 10 years of birding
before I saw my first.
Cheers
Graham Turner
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