One of the more familiar sounds of summer here is the call of the Scops Owl. Smaller than a Little Owl at around 8 inches, this tiny owl starts calling around dusk and will go on through the night. This can be somewhat of an annoyance if one happens to be in a tree next to your house. (This link will take to you a site from which you can play it.)
The high part of my land is the best place to locate them and, having had some previous success coercing golden orioles and hoopoes to call by playing their call through a speaker, I set off at dusk armed with the necessary equipment. With minutes of starting to play the call from a speaker placed on the roof of the jeep, there was a whirr of wings and up popped an owl into a genista bush within feet of me.
While it sat there, I frantically took several photos praying that in the gloom they would come out OK. Once I'd secured my pictures, I turned the playback off as 'tape-luring' does cause some disturbance to the bird and I didn't want to upset my diminutive friend too much. These birds are, despite the loudness of their call, incredibly difficult to see find to their size and their habit of sitting close up to a tree trunk. I felt very lucky to see one so close.
