How the owl screams. The voice of a long-eared owl. The cry of an owl in the forest. Folk signs if you see an owl

The owl is a mysterious bird that is interesting for its grandeur, arrogant gaze and unusual way of life. It is the latter that is often the reason why this bird is ranked among the retinue of the Evil Power. Nightlife not only makes it mysterious, but also instills a little fear in people.

Signs: true or false

For many centuries people have observed different natural phenomena, the habits of animals, ultimately linking everything that happens into a logical picture. Signs embody various observations of ancestors. There are statements that only smack of a desire to intimidate and thereby warn, but most of the signs are still relevant today. You can verify this from your own experience.

There are many signs associated with owls. They have long been considered unusual birds, attributing to them deep knowledge of the essence of existence, fearlessness, and belonging to something otherworldly. This can also explain the fact that beliefs about owls have a negative connotation. Knowledgeable people say that if you dreamed of an owl, happened to be near your home, or simply happened to hear its cry, then you won’t have to expect anything good. On the contrary, this is a kind of warning that something unpleasant or even dangerous will happen soon.

What is the owl screaming about?

In many cultures, the owl is considered an ominous bird. Signs also speak about this - owls bring a bad sign.

If an owl screeches near a residential building, then soon a misfortune will happen there - a person will die. The cry of an owl seems to invite misfortune. Even if everything is smooth in the family and no one is sick, trouble can strike completely unexpectedly. It is not necessary that something irreparable will happen; it is quite likely that the person will become seriously ill. It is a very bad sign if an owl flew into the house through an open window.

According to legends, an owl screaming with a voice that is not its own means sudden death. She also notifies an unmarried woman or widow of the imminent birth of a baby. It is not advisable to look at an owl during the day or look into its nest. This can attract troubles and illnesses.

An owl sitting on a church warns of an imminent change of priest, his death or the destruction of the church. If at the same time the owl sat down on the cross, then this may indicate a fire.

In spring, the cry of an owl announces a flood and many troubles associated with it. Nothing good can be expected if an owl living near a residential building has flown away.

Just a couple of signs promise something pleasant. If an owl jumps and makes sounds on the roof of a house in which a seriously ill person lives, then he can count on a quick recovery. It is also considered good if an owl lands on a tree growing near a home - profits await the household.

Particularly superstitious people should not immediately become despondent when they hear the “hooting” of an owl. If you treat it as a warning and try to be a little more careful in everyday life, then misfortune will pass by.

Question: what bird screams protractedly at night and doesn’t let you sleep?

Residents of the Venyukovo microdistrict have been hearing these drawn-out plaintive sounds for years in a row in July. Meet the long-eared owl. But the calls are made by long-eared owl chicks. This type of owl is relatively calm in its proximity to humans, although loud noises, rumbles, and music frighten the birds. Owls hunt tirelessly all night, and flocks of mouse rodents retreat from our homes. Here owls have a clear advantage, because This is a wild species that specializes in mice. City cats and cats cannot catch so many rodents, even if they hunted continuously for the 8 hours that they do not sleep. Our pets (cats, dogs) are first and foremost defenseless against diseases carried by mice and voles, secondly children, and thirdly ourselves. The most dangerous, transmitted including from mice to cats, dogs, domestic ungulates, and people, should be considered the following: leptospirosis, toxoplasmosis, helminthiasis, rabies and lichen. None of these cases can be avoided without medical assistance. Cats most often develop chlamydia. The excrement of mice and their urine may contain bacteria that cause tularemia and typhus. Viruses that cause hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome in humans and animals multiply in the body of ticks that live on rodents. There are many hemorrhagic fevers, these are: Crimean, Omsk, Argentine, Bolivian, Central Asian, yellow fever, Ebola fever, Lassa, Dange, Marburg disease and others.

Listen to the owl screech.

Now just imagine that these hordes of rodents will walk through children's sandboxes, basements, entrances, paths, benches in parks...

Let's return to owls. Long-eared owls are medium-sized birds: females weigh 300g, males 250g. You can immediately distinguish it by its large feathery ears (up to 5 cm), the bright orange color of the iris of the eyes and the presence on each feather of the underside of the body, along with longitudinal streaks, of a thin streamy transverse pattern. The top is grayish-brown with a dark marble pattern, the bottom is rusty-yellowish. This camouflage color helps to blend into the bark of trees during the day when the owl sleeps. During the day it sits stretched out and pressed against a tree trunk. The mating flight is zigzag, from tree to tree; In the spring it sometimes flaps its wings loudly in flight. The voice is a dull “hoo-hoo” or a plaintive “oo-oo-oo”. But during non-breeding times, long-eared owls are silent. If you find it with a child, then explain that you need to quietly satisfy your curiosity so as not to scare the bird. Let the night guard of our hygiene rest, because he has a difficult and dangerous job in nature.

Residents of our city, whose windows overlook a field and there are tall trees nearby, are advised by environmentalists to find out in winter whether there are crow's nests on these trees and try to eliminate them on their own or with the help of housing and communal services. Long-eared owls do not build their own nests. Usually, already in March - April, a married couple tidies up the abandoned nest of a crow, blackbird, buzzard or hollow. Therefore, if there is no nest, there are no squeaking chicks opposite your window. The female incubates the eggs as soon as the first egg is laid. The chicks have a large age difference. A newborn owlet weighs about 20 grams and is covered with white, relatively thin down, through which pinkish skin shines through. His eyes and ear holes are closed, and he himself seems extremely helpless. However, as soon as you touch the chick, it immediately raises its head and shakes it in search of the food it has brought. Left alone, the owlet quickly cools down and begins squeak. To keep warm at night, the chicks huddle together. Their feathers are light and have a unique structure, because... It is not found in any other bird. While waiting for their parents, the owlets sit in a dense group, warming each other. The chick “pyramid” is not built haphazardly. Usually the eldest chick sits in the center, and his head always rises above the “pile of bodies.” The rest of the owlets are huddled against him with their backs outward. The smallest chicks and eggs end up at the bottom. By their prolonged cries, the parents determine the location of the chicks (all parents feel safer if they know where their children are) and the degree of feeding of the offspring. Growing owl organisms are very voracious - they need 2-4 mice to sleep. Once they have eaten enough, they stop crying (most often the parents cope with feeding the chicks by 2.00 - 2.30 am). The owls get lunch for themselves and return to the nest. Usually the calls are heard for three weeks, and then the first chicks try to try their hand at flight. These flying feats are dictated not only by their childish restlessness, but by their innate instinct of self-preservation, because If a predator discovers a nest, not everyone will die.

Sharp vision helps owls in hunting. The eyes of owls have a telescopic shape (in the form of a cylinder, narrowed in front and widened in the back). The lens of an owl's eye is not located in a flattened eyeball, like in other birds, but in a deep horny tube. It is essentially a fast telephoto lens. The huge pupil makes full use of the smallest amount of light. A long-eared owl notices a mouse against a background of average contrast with the light intensity created by one stearine candle located 650 meters from the candle. In owls, unlike diurnal animals, rods predominate in the retina of the eye, providing twilight vision. Owls do not perceive colors well. The eyes of owls can see not only in the thick twilight, but also during the day. For a long time, without blinking, the owl often looks at the bright sky. Observing the behavior of an eagle owl during the day, one cannot help but be surprised at how far it notices a flying daytime predator or a crow, even if it looks against the sun. This is explained by the fact that the owl has an amazing ability to reduce the size of the pupil, as if to diaphragm it. Of course, if an owl is suddenly illuminated in the dark or scared out of a dark hollow during the day, it will not immediately be able to see well around, since it takes time for its eyes to adapt. However, in owls it happens relatively quickly. Owls are far-sighted birds and cannot see well in the immediate vicinity in front of them. It is not difficult to verify that if you quickly bring even your favorite food almost to your eyes to a scoop (tame, of course), then it does not react to it in any way. However, if you move the food at least ten centimeters, the bird immediately notices it and grabs it. The fact that owls do not use vision at close distances can be judged by the following fact. When an owl brings food to its mouth, it closes its eyes each time. Bending down, the bird usually touches the prey with its beak and the bristles surrounding it, looks for its head and, making sure by touch that the prey is dead, begins to eat it.

The color of the iris of an owl's eyes often amazes the observer. It can be bright orange, almost red, as, for example, in the long-eared owl, or lemon yellow, as in short-eared owls and owls, or, finally, dark brown, as in most tawny owls. With age, the color of the iris usually changes, becoming more and more intense. Chicks, as a rule, have light brown irises. The color of the iris is not directly related to vision. In low light conditions, when owls usually hunt, their iris is almost invisible at all - the entire eye is occupied by a dark pupil. The area of the iris increases and decreases independently in each eye. This is easy to verify by observing an owl partially illuminated by the glare of the sun.
When you look at an owl, you involuntarily pay attention to the unusual nature of the blinking of the eyes. Most birds, when blinking, raise their lower eyelid upward, simultaneously covering the eye with the nictitating membrane. But owls act differently, almost like people: they lower their upper eyelids while blinking. Rapid blinking (dropping of the eyelid) indicates that the bird is restless. A disturbed owl usually begins to blink “offendedly” before flying away. However, if the owl is calm and closes its eyes when falling asleep, it does this like all other birds: it raises its lower eyelid upward. In other words, by the nature of the blinking one can judge the state of the owl.

Owls have amazingly acute hearing. The flattened plumage surrounding the ear openings forms sound-collecting horns that direct sound waves to the ears, two large vertical slits on the sides of the skull. Sometimes they are “cross-eyed” (or, better said, “cross-eared”), located one above the other; By manipulating their outer ears, owls can change the size of the gaps. All this allows them to perfectly accurately calculate the location of the victim, estimating the tiny difference in time that it takes for the sound of a mouse to reach each ear. To hunt in pitch darkness, some species of owls make do with hearing.

In addition to unique hearing and vision, evolution has awarded owls silent flight. The legs and bodies of these birds are covered with thick downy plumage, even their flight feathers are rounded at the ends and curved towards the body, and the outer webs of the first three feathers are often fringed or sawtoothed to soften the flow of air above them. This makes owls appear much larger than they actually are. The same long-eared owl has a wingspan of 92 cm, but weighs no more than an orange. While hiding, she draws in her feathers, making her look like a thick branch.

Adult owls are skilled hunters not only because nature has endowed them with acute vision, absolute pitch, and silent flight, but also because of their hunting tactics. If this is a field or meadow, the owl overtakes its prey in flight. The mouse is noticed by the bird from a height of 2-4 m or detected by sound with an accuracy of 1 cm, the owl descends and makes a throw from a height of 1.5 - 3 m. If it is a complex terrain with fences, buildings, hills, then the owls set up an ambush - they are on duty on some branch, post, fence. On windless, dry nights hunting is especially successful. In rare cases, they set up an ambush directly on the ground, or on low stumps. The rodent is eaten whole, only for the chicks the mouse carcass is divided into several parts, and for the smallest ones it is partially peeled. In a fit of parental care for feeding their chicks, owls can fly over an area of up to 100 km2. Even such dedication does not always allow you to feed the entire clutch, because... There are not enough rodents in all years; nests are often destroyed by crows, and in settlements there are people (both children and adults who shoot birds with air pistols). In the wild, owls have few enemies - the greatest danger to adult birds is eagle owls and owls, and nests are sometimes destroyed by martens. One of the ringed long-eared owls lived in the wild for 29 years and 9 months, but usually their lifespan is 5-10 years, and in captivity up to 50 years. Long-eared owls are restoring their numbers in the Moscow region with varying degrees of success. So, in 2008, ecologists specially released long-eared owls into the Vorobyovy Gory nature reserve. These feathered predators disappeared from the reserve in the late 90s of the last century. The noise and exhaust fumes of a big city deprived them of comfortable conditions for nesting.

Grown chicks and adult birds form small flocks in August-September and migrate to the forests - there are more rodents there in winter. That is, this bird is not migratory.

Owls are very useful birds. They hunt mice and other rodents that eat grain and, thereby, save our harvest. One single owl can catch more than a thousand mice a year, saving us several tons of grain. In addition, owls catch and eat insects - pests of gardens, forests and fields. The beneficial effect of owls' activities is enhanced by the fact that they hunt at night when other winged predators are sleeping.

You can find interesting information about owls on the following sites:

planetasov.ru

wildportal.ru/sova/sova.html

Be sure to read for yourself and with your children the book by our domestic popularizer of nature I.I. Akimushkina.

Akimushkin I.I. From morning to evening. - M.: Children's literature, 1974. - 160 p.

Owls live in pairs. The sedentism characteristic of most owls contributes to the constancy of married couples. Once a pair is formed, it persists for for long years and it is possible that throughout life.

Mating behavior and vocal reactions. At what age do owls pair up? We cannot yet clearly answer this question, like many others regarding owls. We don't even know exactly at what age different types owls become sexually mature. Until now, there is only fragmentary information about this. Thus, in the regularly published magazine "Ornis Fennica" Martha Lagerstrom reports that the tawny owl chick he had ringed was found on a nest with clutches the following spring, that is, at the age of about eleven months. But there are observations of a different order. For example, while studying the life of young fish eagle owls in Primorye, we became convinced that in the second year of life they have not yet begun to reproduce. It is possible that the larger the owl, the more narrowly it is specialized in terms of nutrition, the later sexual maturity occurs.

It is even more difficult to answer the question: at what time of year and under what circumstances do owls unite in pairs? Some owls that are prone to regular migrations, such as the long-eared owl, most likely form pairs during wintering grounds. In December-January, you can already observe individual individuals courting each other. By the end of winter, it turns out that almost all the long-eared owls, although they continue to stay in flocks for some time, seem to have united in pairs. This becomes noticeable when the flock rests for the day in the crown of a tree. It rarely happens that there is not a second one sitting next to one owl. Young fish eagle owls form mating pairs, apparently during the summer of their second year of life. Until we knew this, we lost a lot of time searching for the nests of birds that were actively calling in June-July. They turned out to be fish owls from the previous year of birth, which, of course, did not yet have nests. They had offspring only the following spring.

Judging by their autumn behavior, young individuals of the tawny owl form pairs in late autumn of their first year. In small migratory species of owls, such as the Scops Owl and the Ussuri Owl, pairing occurs in the first spring of life.

Birds usually inform each other about their readiness to begin breeding by a peculiar behavior - mating. In most cases, at least in birds active during the day, displaying includes various demonstrative movements: birds take bizarre poses and make unusual, sharp, conspicuous movements. To enhance the visual effect, males change into bright breeding outfits in the spring. Such metamorphoses are not typical for owls. Actions designed for perception by the organs of vision have a subordinate significance for them. In the dark, it’s still impossible to see the details of movements and the color of the plumage. Hearing is what helps owls not only find food, but also meet a partner.

In this connection, it is noteworthy that demonstrative behavior, in particular peculiar lekking flights, is observed only in those species of owls that are not strictly nocturnal birds. Thus, mating flights, during which birds fly in circles over the nesting area - soar, flapping their wings rapidly, sometimes making loud pops - are characteristic only of short-eared, polar, and partly hawk owls and very few other representatives. The mating flight may be accompanied by a cry. This is often observed in owls.

Of the effects designed for visual perception, some owls have a flickering throat patch that occurs at the moment of calling. At the same time, the feathers on the neck rise, as if protruding, making their light bases visible. Such a whitish spot on the throat of an owl is noticeable even in thick twilight. It sways in time to the scream. When you look at a hooting eagle owl or any other screeching owl, your gaze is involuntarily drawn to the flickering throat.

Most often, the talk of owls is a monotonous repetition of monotonous dull sounds by a bird calmly sitting on a tree. Moreover, the basis of the mating song is usually the specific calling cry.

Probably, for many species of owls during the period of mating excitement, so-called antiphonal singing is characteristic, when the voice of one bird responds to another. In this case, a relatively long, fairly constant roll call occurs. As a rule, two males take part in it. It is noteworthy that the tendency to antiphonal singing is already evident in owl chicks. Thus, the owls give a signal to notify about their whereabouts very harmoniously: one fledgling will scream, and then, as if in response to its voice, the call of the second chick is heard from another place.

From the tendency of owls to antiphonal singing, some species have developed a characteristic species-specific mating song-duet, which is a natural alternation of calling calls of a male and female. This is no longer a roll call of two birds, but a stable paired singing, which is perceived as a single signal. A duet song during the mating season can be heard, for example, in the eagle owl, long-eared owl, and some noctuids, but it is especially interesting and complex in construction in the fish eagle owl. Schematically, the song-duet of the latter can be represented as follows.

Each of the sounds of this song is played at strictly defined intervals and, as a rule, only in the above sequence. The male starts the song. The first and third sounds of the song belong to him. The second and fourth sounds are produced by the female. For the male it is “guu-guuuu”, for the female the sound is thicker, rolling and low - “yyy-hyy-gyyyyyy”. Almost one bird inserts its calling call in parts between the sounds made by its partner. The duration of one song is 7-8 seconds. Song after song during active mating most often follows at intervals of 5-10 seconds.

Sometimes the mating song of owls is not a duet, but a series of sounds, like a very peculiar trill. For example, 17-18 calls are combined into the mating song of a male short-eared owl. This song lasts approximately 4-5 seconds. The Great Gray Owl's mating trill lasts 8-9 seconds. However, during this time only 12-13 screams are heard. A relatively short energetic trill (7-10 gradually weakening calls, reproduced within 2.5-3 seconds) is characteristic of the tawny owl.

White or polar owl (Nyctea scandiaca)

Whether one of the owls, at the time of mating excitement, makes individual sounds, plays a trill, or a pair of owls performs a duet song, this is done many times and is sometimes repeated hundreds of times in a row.

Since in owls the period of pair formation and mating itself are often significantly separated in time, the overall activation of mating behavior can be quite long. The biological meaning of the spring singing of owls lies primarily in the synchronization of the sexual process, less often it serves to attract a partner to the nesting site. For this purpose, most owls have autumn mating. Moreover, judging by the intensity of the calls, autumn mating is sometimes no less violent than spring mating. This is most noticeable in areas where the number of owls is low and where they have to holler especially a lot to find a partner.

The singing of owls in spring and autumn is often regarded as a signal of occupancy of an area. We still cannot agree with this, although we do not deny the multifunctional significance of vocal reactions in birds. The fact is that in the fall young solitary birds call most actively. If we accept that the autumn calls of owls are functionally designed to protect some territory, in other words, to expel other representatives of the species from the site, then, undoubtedly, the old birds that already have their own site would have to scream the most. The voice of owls is primarily a means of intraspecific positive communication in communication, and is by no means a means of scaring or threatening.

By the way, the detection and recording of owls is mostly based on their calls during the mating season. Even if for some reason the owl is silent one night, it is very easy to provoke it to scream. Once you imitate or play a tape recording of its song, the owl will certainly respond. Five to six excursions at the height of mating are enough to identify all the owls living in a given area. Owls call most actively on windless moonlit nights, from the evening until two o'clock, and also before dawn.

Focusing on the voices of owls in the night forest, you can learn not only about the presence of these birds here. M. A. Menzbier, an outstanding Russian ornithologist, wrote about this. In his book “Birds of Russia”, published in 1895, there are the following lines (p. 303): “... of course, at night it is difficult to notice the habits of an owl, but its cry is so expressive that sometimes you can already determine from it what it is doing owl. Now she has just flown out from her daytime shelter, which she lets you know with a somewhat timid cry. Then the cry becomes animated - the owl seems to be rejoicing at the coming darkness; but then something disturbs the bird or a quarrel with a neighbor occurs - and the cries express concern and dissatisfaction."

The voice of an owl is a truly amazing creation of the night forest. Her mating cry is not only intense, but also quite reliably protected from interference. It stands out well among any forest noises. As research by V.D. Ilyichev has shown, the sound spectrum of the voice of many owls is usually within 400 hertz. Note that the sounds made, for example, by the robin and a number of other passerine birds are much higher - about 5000 hertz. Interestingly, the more nocturnal an owl is, the lower its voice. And vice versa, in many twilight and partly diurnal owls, instead of a dull “goo”, we sometimes hear a very ringing cry like “ke-ke-ke...”, as if it were not an owl but a daytime one. predatory bird. The marsh, polar, hawk and some other owls have a more or less high-pitched voice.

To the untrained observer, it may seem that all owls call almost the same. To some extent this is true. The vocal capabilities of owls are limited. However, many of them, along with low sounds, are capable of producing a piercing whistle. We have heard such a high-pitched, slightly rattling whistle, for example, in the Moscow Zoo from one-year-old snowy owls. Fish owls whistle high and provocatively.

The organ responsible for producing sound, the lower larynx, in owls has only one pair of vocal muscles. However, these birds have a well-developed vocal membrane, the structural features of which largely determine the variety of sounds produced. An idea of the extent of this diversity can only be gained when one manages to attend a chorus of owls.

Imagine that you are in the wilds of the Ussuri region. Night. Somewhere in the crown of an old elm, the Ussuri scoop monotonously repeats its “oo-too-ta.” Sings measuredly, as if a clock is ticking. But then nearby a second bird screamed in the same way. And the first, in order to somehow stand out, immediately changes the tone of the song. It turns out to be an extremely beautiful roll call. Other owls, such as the spiny owl and the scops owl, also have the ability to change the tone of the main song.

More recently, using a tape recorder, it was possible to identify geographic variability in the voice of owls. Thus, based on a tape recording of the mating song of the white-faced owl ( Otus leucotis) Wouter Wieden found that its subspecies, living in Kenya and Tanzania, are also well distinguished by vocal characteristics.

The communicative meaning of owls' voices is very diverse. Using a special sound signal, usually sharp and high-pitched, the fledglings notify their parents of their location so that the parents can quickly find them and feed them. Owls leave the nest very early and sometimes fly far away. A special signal is also given by adult birds, for example, in times of danger. Hearing him, the chicks freeze and stop squeaking. When quarreling, the owls screech, thereby expressing their dissatisfaction.

In situations that require defense, less often during aggression (for example, during family discord), all owls click their beaks. This sound occurs, as K. A. Yudin suggests, at the moment of jumping off the beak resting on the mandible. The movement is so fast that it is practically not caught by the eye. High-speed filming could help clarify how the click occurs. Some of the owls, for example the gray owl, in addition to clicking their beaks, hiss in a threatening manner.

Thus, in general, the capabilities of owls to reproduce sounds are quite large, which becomes of particular importance in conditions of limited night visibility.

Literature: Pukinsky Yu. B. Life of owls. Series: The life of our birds and animals. Vol. 1. L., Publishing house Leningrad. Univ., 1977. 240 p.

Question: what bird screams protractedly at night and doesn’t let you sleep?

Listen to the owl scream.

Now just imagine that these hordes of rodents will walk through children's sandboxes, basements, entrances, paths, benches in parks...

Residents of our city, whose windows overlook a field and there are tall trees nearby, are advised by environmentalists to find out in winter whether there are crow’s nests on these trees and try to eliminate them on their own or with the help of housing and communal services. Long-eared owls do not build their own nests. Usually, already in March - April, a married couple tidies up an abandoned nest of a crow, blackbird, buzzard or hollow. Therefore, if there is no nest, there are no squeaking chicks opposite your window. The female incubates the eggs as soon as the first egg is laid. The chicks have a large age difference. A newborn owlet weighs about 20 grams and is covered with white, relatively thin down, through which pinkish skin shines through. His eyes and ear holes are closed, and he himself seems extremely helpless. However, as soon as you touch the chick, it immediately raises its head and shakes it in search of the food it has brought. Left alone, the owlet quickly cools down and begins squeak. To keep warm at night, the chicks huddle together. Their feathers are light and have a unique structure, because... It is not found in any other bird. While waiting for their parents, the owlets sit in a dense group, warming each other. The chick “pyramid” is not built haphazardly. Usually the eldest chick sits in the center, and his head always rises above the “pile of bodies.” The rest of the owlets are huddled against him with their backs outward. The smallest chicks and eggs end up at the bottom. By their prolonged cries, the parents determine the location of the chicks (all parents feel safer if they know where their children are) and the degree of feeding of the offspring. Growing owl organisms are very voracious - they need 2-4 mice to sleep. Once they have eaten enough, they stop crying (most often the parents cope with feeding the chicks by 2.00 - 2.30 am). The owls get lunch for themselves and return to the nest. Usually the calls are heard for three weeks, and then the first chicks try to try their hand at flight. These flying feats are dictated not only by their childish restlessness, but by their innate instinct of self-preservation, because If a predator discovers a nest, not everyone will die.

Adult owls are skilled hunters not only because nature has endowed them with acute vision, absolute pitch, and silent flight, but also because of their hunting tactics. If it is a field or meadow, the owl overtakes its prey in flight. The mouse is noticed by the bird from a height of 2-4 m or detected by sound with an accuracy of 1 cm, the owl descends and makes a throw from a height of 1.5 - 3 m. If it is a complex terrain with fences, buildings, hills, then the owls set up an ambush - they are on duty on some branch, post, fence. On windless, dry nights hunting is especially successful. In rare cases, they set up an ambush directly on the ground, or on low stumps. The rodent is eaten whole, only for the chicks the mouse carcass is divided into several parts, and for the smallest ones it is partially peeled. In a fit of parental care for feeding their chicks, owls can fly over an area of up to 100 km2. Even such dedication does not always allow you to feed the entire clutch, because... There are not enough rodents in all years; nests are often destroyed by crows, and in settlements there are people (both children and adults who shoot birds with air pistols). In the wild, owls have few enemies - the greatest danger to adult birds is eagle owls and tawny owls, and nests are sometimes destroyed by martens. One of the ringed long-eared owls lived in the wild for 29 years and 9 months, but usually their lifespan is 5-10 years, and in captivity up to 50 years. Long-eared owls are restoring their numbers in the Moscow region with varying degrees of success. So, in 2008, ecologists specially released long-eared owls into the Vorobyovy Gory nature reserve. These feathered predators disappeared from the reserve in the late 90s of the last century. The noise and exhaust fumes of a big city deprived them of comfortable conditions for nesting.

Grown chicks and adult birds form small flocks in August-September and migrate to the forests - there are more rodents there in winter. That is, this bird is not migratory.

You can find interesting information about owls on the following sites:

planetasov.ru

wildportal.ru/sova/sova.html

Be sure to read for yourself and with your children the book by our domestic popularizer of nature I.I. Akimushkina.

Akimushkin I.I. From morning to evening. – M.: Children’s literature, 1974. – 160 p.

Animals and birds have been messengers of higher powers since ancient times. With their help, people predicted fate and looked for answers to pressing questions. Today, like many hundreds of years ago, signs remain relevant and do not lose their power. The owl bird is a representative of the owl family. Owls are well known to lovers in different parts of the world. Let's consider what they say folk wisdom about meeting a bird.

Folk signs if you see an owl

According to folk signs, seeing an owl is in most cases an unfavorable omen. If a bird hits the window of a house and behaves, this is an alarming sign. In the near future, one of your loved ones will become seriously ill. It is worth paying more attention to dear people; your help and actions can be of great help. It is enough to notice negative changes in time appearance person and refer him to a doctor. Timely treatment and rest will avoid many negative consequences - chronic diseases and even death.

The interpretation of signs about the appearance of a bird largely depends on the specific details of the incident. Let's look at what a meeting with a bird means depending on the time and days of the week:

It was believed that meeting an owl near a house in the evening promised to receive news soon. In most cases, the news will be bad. They may concern the work sphere, household chores or close relatives.
Seeing an owl during the day is a bad omen. Fate warns man. If you do not show attention and caution in a timely manner, then there is a high probability of getting into trouble.
Meeting an owl near your house at night is a favorable sign. Soon you will be able to climb the career ladder. Management will appreciate your diligence and offer you a more lucrative position with a corresponding increase in salary. You may be able to win a large sum of money in a casino or receive an unexpected, large inheritance from a distant relative. If a bird is near the car, this is a warning from higher powers. You should be careful on the road and follow the rules traffic and don't take risks.

IMPORTANT! According to popular belief, domestic owls were mascots. They protected family well-being and happiness, protected from quarrels and warded off bad energy.

Owl bird photos and signs

Owl signs and superstitions associated with the bird are characterized by a negative color. Today there is no reliable data about the reason for such a negative opinion. Most likely the reason lies in the nocturnal lifestyle of the bird. The darkness holds many secrets and dangers. Even meeting a bird during sleep bodes ill. What he sees promises the dreamer loneliness. A person will not be able to find his soul mate or will lose her due to his own stupidity. Meeting an owl in reality often promises troubles and problems.

IMPORTANT! Beliefs about owls do not always promise trouble and grief. Much depends on the person’s internal mood and the specific situation.

Seeing an owl is an ancient sign

Owls are nocturnal creatures. It is not surprising that since ancient times there has been a special attitude towards them. Mystical creatures were often regarded as harbingers of fate.

Seeing an owl near your house is an alarming sign. The home and its owner are in danger. You should be vigilant - turn off electrical devices and lock the doors with a key when leaving the apartment. Otherwise, there is a high risk of fire or robbery.

Another interesting sign is to see an owl sitting on the roof of a house. According to popular belief, the event promises financial difficulties. Don't take any risky steps anytime soon monetary transactions, deposits or transactions.

Owl screams near the house signs and superstitions

According to folk superstitions, if an owl screeches near a house, it is a bad omen, just like. The feathered bird warns a person of impending trouble. Trouble may arise in financially. One of your work colleagues will seriously set you up, and you will lose your position or an important deal will fall through. You can lose your wealth because of scammers. In crowded places and at cultural events, you should be careful about your belongings and not leave them unattended.

Signs: true or false

For many centuries, people have observed various natural phenomena and the habits of animals, ultimately connecting everything that happens into a logical picture. Signs embody various observations of ancestors. There are statements that only smack of a desire to intimidate and thereby warn, but most of the signs are still relevant today. You can verify this from your own experience.

There are many signs associated with owls. They have long been considered unusual birds, attributing to them deep knowledge of the essence of existence, fearlessness, and belonging to something otherworldly. This can also explain the fact that beliefs about owls have a negative connotation. Knowledgeable people they say that if you dreamed of an owl, happened to be near your home, or simply happened to hear its cry, then you won’t have to expect anything good. On the contrary, this is a kind of warning that something unpleasant or even dangerous will happen soon.

What is the owl screaming about?

In many cultures, the owl is considered an ominous bird. Signs also speak about this - owls bring a bad sign.

An owl sitting on a church warns of an imminent change of priest, his death or the destruction of the church. If at the same time the owl sat down on the cross, then this may indicate a fire.

In spring, the cry of an owl announces a flood and many troubles associated with it. Nothing good can be expected if an owl living near a residential building has flown away.