Owl Activity Hours

If you would like to post, you'll need to register. Note that if you have a BCG store account, you'll need a new, separate account here (we keep the two sites separate for security purposes).

A more behaviour-centric thread here. My main point of discussion will be GGOs, but I leave the thread name more generic in case someone wants to bring up other owls too. Many of these species rest most of daytime and knowing when to seek them appropriately and minimize your disturbance could be beneficial.

I have seen ~16 GGOs so far on 3 occasions. The first one was a chance encounter at dusk. The second and third were targeted trips to the same area at two different time frames - early morning (golden hour + 2 hrs afterwards) VS afternoon to dusk. I was told that GGOs peak activity is around dusk, but after the two targeted trips I did not really feel the difference. Both trips went well, but my budget setup suffered a lot more during the dusk trip because of its low-light performance. If anything, the morning owls were better-behaved because they hung around the fence posts more often, while the dusk ones tend to perch higher up in the conifers, away from the road. This is all a very pre-emptive conclusion from a sample size of two trips, so I would like to hear others with more experience on GGOs chime in: do you really see a clear peak in GGOs activity time? And is that your preferred time to search for GGOs?

1737363574516.jpeg
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.
 
Last edited:
I'm interested in this question as well. We don't have GGOW in our area, but I have noticed that with western screech owls, I've had better luck at dusk. We had one using a hole in our backyard suburban tree to roost. When it came out for the evening hunt, it hung around for a few minutes to survey things before leaving. In the early morning, I only got to see it very briefly before it went back into the hole.
In the evening, it sat with its head at the mouth of the hole for about 1/2 hour, in the morning it disappeared quickly down in the hole.
It's hungry, I presume, at dusk and satisfied after a night of hunting, or just wants to be safe in the morning. So down it goes.
Same thing with great horned owls, more active at dusk.
 
I have watched many owls over the years. And in general I would say they are much more active after the sun sets. The GGO I have seen are the one's more likely to fly and hunt even during the day. Screech owls, pygmy owls, barn owls, great horned owls, short-eared, long-eared and burrowing owls seem to mostly sleep during the day. And yes, the screech owl I saw returning from a night out, dipped into its cavity in the tree immediately on its return whereas it sat for a bit before taking off from the cavity in the evening (soaking up the last rays of sun).
But, as the saying goes, if an owl/animal is hungry, they could hunt at any time. And if it is a parent owl trying to feed its chicks, it could be out hunting when there is still light. So I think spring is the best time to see an owl hunting over a field. Partly it is because when a youngster is starting to learn to fly and hunt, it is more apt to do this when there is still some light. I have watched the parent GHO teaching their chicks to hunt when it wasn't completely dark.
PS. If anyone is interested, I have an album of owl photos on my flickr site and you can see, most are taken with very little light:
 
I have watched many owls over the years. And in general I would say they are much more active after the sun sets. The GGO I have seen are the one's more likely to fly and hunt even during the day. Screech owls, pygmy owls, barn owls, great horned owls, short-eared, long-eared and burrowing owls seem to mostly sleep during the day. And yes, the screech owl I saw returning from a night out, dipped into its cavity in the tree immediately on its return whereas it sat for a bit before taking off from the cavity in the evening (soaking up the last rays of sun).
But, as the saying goes, if an owl/animal is hungry, they could hunt at any time. And if it is a parent owl trying to feed its chicks, it could be out hunting when there is still light. So I think spring is the best time to see an owl hunting over a field. Partly it is because when a youngster is starting to learn to fly and hunt, it is more apt to do this when there is still some light. I have watched the parent GHO teaching their chicks to hunt when it wasn't completely dark.
PS. If anyone is interested, I have an album of owl photos on my flickr site and you can see, most are taken with very little light:

Thank you for your wealth of experience! I have seen short-eared owls being semi-active during the day once, but it might be because they were disturbed by the ravens in the area.
 
In the PNW the wintering SEOs hunt non stop all day long. In fact the action only dies down in the last hour or so before sunset. Maybe they go crazy after sunset but I’ve never stuck around to find out as I’m on my way home dreading the task of culling 10,000 photos from the day’s session.
 
In the PNW the wintering SEOs hunt non stop all day long. In fact the action only dies down in the last hour or so before sunset. Maybe they go crazy after sunset but I’ve never stuck around to find out as I’m on my way home dreading the task of culling 10,000 photos from the day’s session.
That's interesting behavior as opposed the MW where they only seem to come out at dusk and rarely if ever are the SEOs active in the daylight hours. Then again, we really enjoy the snowies!
 
In the UK I've heard an interesting explanation as to why in the winter some SEO's readily hunt by day and others seem mainly nocturnal. It is suggested that those owls that have migrated south for winter hunt more readily in daylight because the short summer nights in northern latitudes means they have to use daylight; owls native to the UK however always have nights of a decent length and do not need to hunt by day.
 
My personal experience of watching barn owls suggests that individual owls have differing habits. At times when forced to hunt in daylight (either poor weather or pressures of gaining weight for reproduction / feeding chicks) there are some individuals thet seem to prefer to do so in the early morning and others that prefer the late afternoon.
 
In upstate NY, where I live, most owl species aren't active during the day, except for Snowies, and crepuscular short-eared owls. While SEOs are said to be daytime hunters, I've only seen them during the evening hours, and rarely in the mornings. Occasionally a little screech owl will show up midday but that's a pretty occurrence.
 
In the UK I've heard an interesting explanation as to why in the winter some SEO's readily hunt by day and others seem mainly nocturnal. It is suggested that those owls that have migrated south for winter hunt more readily in daylight because the short summer nights in northern latitudes means they have to use daylight; owls native to the UK however always have nights of a decent length and do not need to hunt by day.
Very interesting! Makes sense, also the clocks of the SEO that migrated south may not have reset? So hunting at dusk in the north might translate to be in the light in the south? Not sure how an owl decides when to wake up to go hunt, is it an internal clock or the amount of sun? I have watched owls when it is quite cloudy and dark and they seem to wake up the same time as the day before when it was sunny, suggesting it is more an internal clock than the actual amount of light.
 
Back
Top