In CD3-33, a male is proposing a nest in the resonant quarry with the Griffon Vulture roost. During the courtship period, male songposts are often lower than during the territorial phase, because the female tends to stay close to the nest (Penteriani 2002).Īs with most owls, male Eurasian Eagle-Owls propose nest sites to females who then make the final decision. Then in January and February, they hoot for the female too. They also hoot to maintain stable relations with their neighbours. From roughly September to December, territorial males direct their hooting mainly at male floaters, which helps to prevent potentially deadly confrontations. From late August, juveniles start to disperse: they become ‘floaters’.
Male hooting peaks during the territorial and courtship phases of the annual cycle, before gradually becoming less frequent through the rest of the breeding season (Delgado & Penteriani 2006). The other males apparently hold him in such esteem that if he fails to hoot during the evening chorus, they remain silent too (Penteriani et al 2014). The male that hoots first occupies the best territory and raises the most young, and also has the brightest badge and the highest percentage of red blood cells. It seems that in clusters of neighbouring territories, the males hoot in a particular order. Vincenzo and colleagues have recently discovered hierarchies within this rich social fabric. The area has high densities of European Rabbits Oryctolagus cuniculus, no doubt explaining why it is able to support around 40 pairs of eagle-owls in only 100 km2 (Delgado et al 2013). Amazingly, the closest pairs nest only 250 m apart.
At one particular spot, Vincenzo has heard up to eight eagle-owls at dusk, four males and four females. The nearest two males were only about 500 m apart. At dusk when I recorded CD3-32, I was amazed to hear up to four males and one very distant female calling in the space of just two minutes.
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