John Holmes

Around midday today I travelled back to Sheung Shui from Tuen Mun (along Yuen Long Highway) on a Public Light Bus.

I was gazing at the unfamiliar surroundings in Lam Tei when I noticed what looked like a rolled-up piece of matting at the base of the perspex sound barrier beside the carriageway.  The "matting" had bright orange eyes and ear tufts... it was an Eagle Owl !

The minibus didn't stop until it got to Sheung Shui.  I was reasonably confident I hadn't imagined the owl, but if it really was an owl my presumption was that it must be injured and need help.  However, Eagle Owls have sharp talons, and I didn't want to try to pick it up by myself.

After discussions with a couple of people I decided that the only thing to do was to go back, make sure the bird was still there and report the location accurately to the police, who should then call out AFCD.

With mixed feelings I returned to Lam Tei (an hour or so later)in a taxi to find the bird still there. After I dialled the police, two officers from the Traffic Section arrived very quickly.

I was not carrying my camera, and these photos were taken by one of the Traffic officers - "Dicky" on his mobile phone.

The owl showed no sign of physical injury, but sat quite still, watching our every move.  However, with the traffic thundering past, one of us must have stepped too close to it, because it suddenly took off and flew across the road, disappearing into the trees beyond.

It really seemed to have no trouble flying, and so, in a way, I was glad to see it go.

How did it get there ?  Why did it stay so long in such a dangerous place in bright daylight?  

It might have been nearly a victim of the translucent sound barriers, or it might have been hit by a vehicle on the road..I don't know.

[ Last edited by John Holmes at 22/09/2011 17:46 ]

wksf

Oh my God, it is cute!

wleepoin

Hi John,

Lucky for the Owl you were there to save it, jolly good man!!

Cheers
PWMK

brendank

Good job spotting that from a minibus! I suspect it probably had hit a car or sound barrier and was stunned.

handrew

I am stunned too..... amazing find. Well done, John.

Sze

It seems its left "shoulder" and wing lower than its right side, right?

[ Last edited by Sze at 22/09/2011 23:20 ]

cywong

A great find and a wonderful encounter!

mchristine

The owl was lucky enough to be seen by John who has such enviable bird sense.  I hope it is all fine.  It will be wonderful if the same owl can be seen by us again. It is always delightful to read fiction like yet real bird stories.

sdavid

A good minibus tick John!  I reckon the noise barrier is the culprit there

John Holmes

Hi Everybody,

Thanks for taking an interest.   I agree with those who said that it seems most likely the owl had flown into to the sound barriers during the hours of darkness.  In some areas of YL Highway there are reflective stickers on the barriers, but NOT at this section near Lam Tei.

This incident has been a reminder to me that interesting birds can turn up ANYWHERE !

John

wcaptain

Perhaps HKBWS could report it to the Highways Dept and recommend them to put falcon stickers on this section of the YL Highway.

The pic is a powerful education tool for relevant people in the Govt

Captain

wcaptain

BTW, I saw an Eagle Owl at Lam Tei Reservoir 10 yrs ago, probably not too far from the barrier. perhaps thsi corner is the territory of an Eagle Owl

ajohn

To be honest, I don't think putting stickers on the sound barrier would prevent an owl flying into the barrier in the hours of darkness.
At many locations transparent barriers are likely to be a problem for birds, with or without the stickers.

cgeoff

I believe research indicates falcon silhouettes have no significant effect in preventing bird collisions with transparent barriers. The only effective way to prevent such collisions is for the barriers to be opaque i.e. impossible to see through at all, whether tinted green (as seems to be the fashion at the moment) or not.

As for an Eagle Owl (or other large species), it's highly unlikely it would in way be perturbed by the flight silhouette of a bird much smaller than itself.

GeoffC

wcaptain

Dear Geoff and John,

Pls kindly share the studies you mentioned.

My experience is it could help reduce the no of dead birds resulting in window collision, esp small migratory birds.

Pls note that the interval between two stickers is quite important. Local measurements suggest that if the interval of stickers is greater than 1.5 m, birds will pass through the "gap", resulting in collision.

Anyway, love to see relevant statistics. Perhaps Highways D should fund a study about the effectiveness of stickers.

Cheers,

Captain

Sze

My friend shared this old journal with me a year before, hope it is useful for the discuss.

http://www.muhlenberg.edu/main/academics/biology/faculty/klem/aco/documents/FieldJournal-Mortality1990.pdf

[ Last edited by Sze at 25/09/2011 00:47 ]

ajohn

Hi Captain,
I think some studies may have been done overseas but I don't know of any particular references at the moment. I agree it would be a very interesting study to conduct.

The point I was trying to make is that a nocturnal bird such as an owl may not even see the sticker, so of course it will not be effective.

I think most previous work has looked at impact into windows. Although the stickers may sometimes be effective on windows, this does not necessarily mean they will be useful when applied to a noise barrier, given the differences in scale and the fact that the barrier is in front of a landscape not a building.

Besides, if they need to be as little as 1.5m to be effective, then surely this makes the transparency of the noise barrier pointless - why not change the barrier design to prevent the risk of bird collision in the first place?

wcaptain

The effectiveness of stickers may be species specific.

I was told that lines will be "fused" into new transparent noise barriers and so they will look like impermeable to birds. The effectiveness should be tested.

For the old ones, putting more stickers is currently the most cost-effective measure. Another way is to let them dirty and cover with dust so they look like impermeable.

Captain