Owls, where do they sleep ?

Might seem a daft question but I live within 50 yrds of some woods, when I get home from work in the morning I can hear owls in the trees but where do they go in the daytime, you never see em , I mean do they nest ? sorry if its a bit obscure but I know there are some bird experts on here and was just wondering.
Thanks
Stew

Birds do not sleep in the nest they just perch, now most owls are active at night so would sleep during the day and believe me a sleeping owl on a tree is not easy to see. some owls will roost in buildings, some in trees but if you see them during the day it is not a good sign as it means they are not able to collect enough food during the night, this is most likely during the breeding season.

PS I am not an expert

Thanks snapper, I regularly see owls at night at work, plus foxes, shooting stars, meterorites and even a fireball some years ago but owls fascinate me, we have a stretch of road called the rainford bypass near work, you can always see at least half a dozen sat on fence posts on the way home, barn owls, little owls and I beleive tawny owls as well(big with tufted ears) need to sort myself a bigger lens I think, although you can park the car within 10 feet of them and the dont seem bothered, I tried some shots with my pannt last year but the infra red focusing light alwayd scare them off.

The easiest way to find day roosting owls is head for your local wood, stand quietly and listen for songbird commotion. I can guarantee that they will be mobbing a roosting tawny owl. You will generally find Tawny's tight up against the trunk of an ivy-clad tree during day roosts.

Barn owls are another matter, they generally don't nest in trees, but in derelict or undisturbed farm buildings - and boxes if you put them up. An easy way to locate a barn owl is to listen out for hissing noises which come from the nest area.

your real best bet is getting in touch with local birders who may well know where your local owls are. Try getting in touch with the RSPB? they often monitor owls etc for activity. You may find they're a bit funny about you disturbing them with photography though. Sorry I'm not much help!

xx

Thanks zounds, saying that the local birders may not be too keen on someone knowing the locations of protected birds etc, got sent home early last night due to it being quiet and saw a couple of barn owls on the way home, just sat on fence posts on the edge of farmers fields, thinking of going up to a local bird of prey place here in Cheshire.

if you know they frequent those places, just spend an early evening sat around waiting quietly. Take a brown cloth or something with you to cover yourself up, in absence of a hide perhaps?

xx

Tawnies are probably the most nocturnal of owls and are least commonly seen in daylight unless disturbed. They tend to roost as JR says, tight up to a tree trunk and very often in holes and cracks in tree trunks as they do get severely mobbed by songbirds if spotted in daylight.
Barn owls tend to start hunting in the evening and are frequently visible in good light and will fly by day as will Little Owls and large and small eared owls. (Thats the one with the feather tufts on top of their heads).

Tawnies are predominantly a bird of the woodlands and hedgerows.
Barn owls favour open grassland and arable land,often seen over wetland and marshes.
Little Owls frequently occupy old barns and buildings and hunt over grassland and can be remarkably calm in the presence of humans and can easily be aclimatised to human presence. My wife "trained" one to allow some great shots with her compact simply by stopping the car closer and closer to its favourite daytime perch on an old barn until it accepted her parking right alongside it.
Barn Owls are more wary and care must be taken not to disturb them from their day roosts.
Long and short eared owls frequently fly by day and favour rough grasland, heath and moor and scrub but occur in marshland and on the shore, especially the margins of salt marshes and can be fairly indifferent to humans.

Please take care to ensure you do not disturb owls off the roost especially in these freezing conditions when their existence is precarious due to lack of food.
I have picked up several dead emaciated tawny owls in the past few weeks as they cannot find enough voles as they run under the snow out of reach of hunting owls.
Tough times for wildlife in this big freeze.

Thanks hillmouse, dont worry I have no intention of disturbing any owls just curious thats all, thinking of going up to a bird of prey centre near Northwich in the near future, was thinking of seeing if anyone else fancies joining me ?

Our local Bird of Prey centre is great and I must try and get along with the camera sometime.
They have to fly the birds daily, weather permitting and at this time of year other visitors are very rare midweek so plenty of space and no bodies in the way.