An abandoned black woodpecker’s
nest in a hollow dry pine, deep in the forest in the north of Sweden, has got new occupants.
A family of Boreal Owls has moved in and their way of life resembles ours; a housewife dedicated
to the young and a dad bringing home the food. They are not married and
their life together is rather short, but that is of course quite different
from us humans....
The hunting male
The male brings home his prey and
like many other hunters, delivers it to the waiting female who will do
the rest of the work of dividing it and feeding the young.
He is a superb hunter who usually manages to bag his prey within the short
time between feeding of the young, often not more than 10 - 15 minutes.
Most of this takes place in the dark which makes the achievement even greater.
The male of the Boreal Owl arrives with a field
mouse in his beak for delivery to the female waiting in the nest. Then
he will set off again on his hunt for another prey.
During the feeding period, estimated at some two months, the male of
the Boreal Owl will catch between three and eight field mice per day. The
number will depend upon the number of young, which in turn will depend
on the abundance of small rodents.
The female has just received the prey and will
then dish it out to the young. She spends most of her time in the nest
and leaves the hunting to the male.
Breeding during years of
abundant rodents
There is a clear correlation between
good breeding years for the B and years with abundance of rodents, much
like that between foxes and rodents. Assuming that the male Boreal Owl
during a normal year catches five rodents each night for the feeding period
will mean that he catches some 300 rodents during the breeding season.
With time the young are becoming more and more
brave and eventually they can climb up and peep through the opening. They
are curious and if one scrapes against the tree they look out to see who
is coming for a visit.
This is clearly of great importance when considering the breeding rate
of the small rodents. Thus the Boreal Owl is an important factor when it
comes to reducing the number of small rodents and evening out the peaks
in their population. The Boreal Owl is a skilled and useful hunters in
our Nordic forests. It is therefore a welcome sign of approaching spring
– indeed one of the earliest – to hear their call during the cold nights
in February and March. From some Black Woodpecker’s nest in the taiga...
The result of a successful breeding. Five little
‘troll’ on a pine branch...
Copyright © 1996 Tomas Johansson/Fjällfotografen HB.
All rights reserved.
