Owls

[TwitTwooTwat]

I have owl rage, and I need to let it all owl-t. AIBU to dislike owls and their twit-twoo hooting fuckery?

I know I might ruffle some feathers with this opinion, but a owl has moved nearby and every night I can hear it making less than whootiful night noises. It’s being antisoci-owl. Probably trying to attract a mate. The only time we don’t hear it, is when it rains as it is, ahem, too-wet-to-woo.

Local FB page weirdos say they love hearing it, but how I can I get the feathery fuckwit to go Hoo-dini without it turning into a Hoot-dunnit? I don’t want someone to talon me. Anyone know any owlchemy?

TTH

@TwitTwooTwat I have to say that is hands down my favourite ever username.

I saw an owl near my house one night when out for a walk. I was so excited at spotting it I ran all the way home to tell DH, who couldn't quite understand the excitement. I've never seen it since, unfortunately.

I'd love an owl, however noisy. In our garden we have magpies and crows, who are really noisy in the mornings, and a couple of loved up collared doves who coo at each other all day. Soon there will be house martins, who nest above my bedroom window every summer and wake me up with their chatter.

If you’re hearing twits and tuwhoos, then you’ve got a pair. We used to have owls hereabouts (my neighbour once called me out to show me one happily roosting in my chimney cowl), I miss their gentle calling.

I like owls they are beautiful.

Would like one round here but probably not enough trees for them.

I always think Tawny owls look slightly stoned, probably from being awake all night hooting and hollering. Barn owls, on the other hand, have a much more dignified appearance with their heart-shape face.

How do you tell what kind of owl it is? I’ve learned from this thread that the really annoying one if the female, and she’s got a loser of a male who replies occasionally from a distance.

If it’s twitting or tuwooing it’s not a barn owl, they do a sort of shriek rather than hooting.
The rspb website has audio clips of bird songs/calls

https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/barn-owl

or if you haven’t already got it, get the brilliant Merlin app

Ooh thank you! It’s more of a Wooo Wooo and then a single ghostly Woooooooo in response, all quite mournful sounding. Going to have a listen when I get home- people may think me mad if I do it here…

Oh they are one of my favourite animals. I’d rather hear the sounds of nature than the sounds of traffic.

We have a double whammy here...woodpeckers during the day and owls at night. Apparently it's "peaceful" in the countryside...not here it's not. Oh and I've had to deal with turf wars (or tree wars if you like), between the bastarding wood pigeons and and the blackbirds.

Owlright, I will freely admit then that I am being unreasonab-owl.

My bedroom windows are on vent, and Merlin app tells me it is tawny owls. They must be very close as they are loud. By midnight owl hell breaks loose and there they are, owl systems go playing beak-a-boo twit twoo with each other.

The Merlin app will tell you as it identifies the bird from its call

I just love owls!!! 🦉

fav thread today ✨️ 💖 🤣

We have 4 big ones near us and they very loud, long distance chats.

They are less annoying than foxes shagging.

that’s brilliant

Bet he was down the local getting a vole or two

Those mouse munching feathery fuckers are the reason I moved to a town. One night I remember my boyfriend waking me up to show me the marvel of nature hooting on my skylight and was most put out when I told him to tell it to piss off and went back to sleep. 6 months down the line he was throwing cushions of exasperation at the window.

You’re not unreasonable. Single owls and pigeons looking for love are absolute nobs.

Many years ago we had 3 youngsters in the trees outside our bed room, they did not all sit in the same tree and all bloody night they called to each other and their parents. I did yell at them a few times but it did bugger all . Noisy fluffy buggers

I’d love to hear an owl at night. I get police sirens and next door’s TV…

We have owls and red kites around here. Almost in a town centre.
The kites are so "tame" and close overhead I can hear them when the windows are shut.

YABU but I love this thread!

You could learn Owlish then either tell it to bugger off in its native language or give it relationship advice about meeting Mr RightTwit?

I have owls in the night, plus badgers, deer and foxes setting off my ring doorbell. In the day I have buzzards, green woodpeckers, kites, marsh harriers, curlews (and they are LOUD). Plus the usual birds, including some bloody annoying woodpigeons, starlings, tree and hedge sparrow, dunnovk, marsh tit, black tit, blue tit, and the odd hawk and a group of jackdaw who I adore. The cuckoos will soon arrive along with cranes. The swans are just leaving, over winter the sound of fields of swans is everywhere. They are Whooper swans from Siberia. The noise an acre or two of swans can make is fantastic. Then there's the tractors!

I love it. I lived for years with sirens, people, traffic, trains, cars. The difference here, out of a city and in a fen, is none of the noises are threatening. I can hear them, know them and rest. In fact I love drifting off to sleep or waking to them.

No one’s mentioned chain saw?

I’d be tot-owl-y up for learning owlish. I wonder if there is a Duo-ling-owl?

Or maybe there is a way to lure owls to your home? Like a bat signal for owls? I can see the “owls stop here” signs taking off, like Santa Stop Here. Hoots Welcome Here? Twit Twooooo We Love Yooooou?

Maybe Sainsburys could do a linw in owls like the Mumsnet Halloween Raven? 🤔

We are staying in Yorkshire at the moment and we have an eagle owl outside. Not native to this country but some escaped a while back and bred. I used the bird identifying app on my phone and could not believe it but the camp owners confirmed it. We also have a barn owl screeching its head off and a tawny owl. Must be in Owl land.

I agree that owls are twats

One successfully made me think I'd lost my mind. I was going through an intensely stressful period of time due to a close family member having very very severe health issues. It was horrifying and utterly exhausting. It involved travelling a lot of miles and very little sleep whilst the situation was ongoing.

Driving home from hospital at 1am, sat on a low wall at the side of the main road in an urban area, a giant owl looked me dead in the eye, swivelling its head as i went. Obviously I thought I'd finally lost the plot. I knew I'd hallucinated it. It was deeply distressing on top of everything else.

It wasn't until YEARS later, chatting to a good friend that I admitted my hallucination and how much it scared me that the mental stress had made me lose my grip and I'd imagined a huge frigging roadside owl.

He was a keen birder as a child, so he whipped out his phone and said did it look like this? And lo, it did indeed look like that, because it turns out the UK has some unfeasabily large owls. Larger than you'd think.

What the feathery big bastard was doing traffic watching at 1am is anyone's guess.