Courtship involves calling. The male calls to the female for attention, to attract the female to a suitable nest, although this may vary from one species to another. The calling may be accompanied with the provision of food, by displaying the prey animals. Copulation may follow once the female accepts the food. In order to initiate breeding among owls, they call and sing. The song plays two important roles, which are for claiming the territory and to attract mates, although the male’s song exercise reduces drastically after pairing. Owls looking for mates may sing endlessly until a mate is found. The uniqueness of the female’s song over the male’s lies in higher pitch and clarity. Males of Tengmalm’s owls (Aegolius funereus) are known to utter only a few phrases of song whenever they bring food for their mates. Copulation among owls may take place in rocks, branches or in the nest, with the female carrying the male’s gift with which she has been ‘bribed’ with her bill, as shown in Figure 4. Females may wander from nests to nests but males are noted to be more faithful to territories. Owls may inhabit different locations for breeding purposes, Tengmalm’s owls, Northern Hawk owls (Surnia ulula) and Tawny owls may inhabit tree holes, larger open cavities of tree stumps or natural holes, respectively.
Owls are known to be monogamous. The same mates may stay together for breeding purposes for several years, although variation may exist from one species to another. The sole responsibility of the female owls during breeding is to lay eggs, incubate and hatch them. It is the responsibility of the male to hunt and provide food for the mate during breeding. The feeding of the mate starts prior to the laying of eggs and continues till about 2 weeks after the eggs are hatched. At about 2 weeks after the eggs are hatched, both parents provide for the brood till they become independent at about 10–12 weeks of age.
Credit : IntechOpen
Picture Credit : Google
