Scale-dependent habitat associations of a rapidly declining farmland predator, the Little Owl Athene noctua, in contrasting agricultural landscapes

North American birds that feed on flying insects are experiencing steep population declines, particularly long-distance migratory populations in the northern breeding range. We determine, for the first time, the level of migratory connectivity across the range of a songbird using direct tracking of individuals, and test whether declining northern populations have higher exposure to agricultural landscapes at their non-breeding grounds in South America. We used light-level geolocators to track purple martins, Progne subis , originating from North American breeding populations, coast-to-coast ( n = 95 individuals). We show that breeding populations of the eastern subspecies, P. s. subis , that are separated by ca . 2000 km, nevertheless have almost completely overlapping non-breeding ranges in Brazil. Most (76%) P. s. subis overwintered in northern Brazil near the Amazon River, not in the agricultural landscape of southern Brazil. Individual non-breeding sites had an average of 91 per cent forest and only 4 per cent agricultural ground cover within a 50 km radius, and birds originating from declining northern breeding populations were not more exposed to agricultural landscapes than stable southern breeding populations. Our results show that differences in wintering location and habitat do not explain recent trends in breeding population declines in this species, and instead northern populations may be constrained in their ability to respond to climate change.

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On the diet of the Little Owl,Athene noctua, in the Safawi area, eastern Jordan

Zoology in the Middle East ◽

10.1080/09397140.1997.10637734 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 19-28 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Walid N. Al-Melhim ◽

Zuhair S. Amr ◽

Ahmad M. Disi ◽

Ahmad Katbeh-Bader

Keyword(s):

Athene Noctua ◽

Little Owl

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The disappearance of Barn Owl Tyto alba and Little Owl Athene noctua occurrence sites in farmland in East Poland

Ekológia (Bratislava) ◽

10.2478/eko-2013-0033 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 32 (4) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Ignacy Kitowski ◽

Krzysztof Stasiak

Keyword(s):

Barn Owl ◽

Animal Production ◽

Tyto Alba ◽

Athene Noctua ◽

Little Owl

AbstractKitowski I., Stasiak K. The disappearance of barn owl Tyto alba and little owl Athene noctua occurrence sites in farmland in East Poland. Ekologia (Bratislava), Vol. 32, No. 4, p. 361-368, 2013.Complexes of buildings belonging to vast farms, distributed in the form of islands over a landscape of monoculture farming constituted important occurrence sites of the barn owl and the little owl. During 1999-2012, the fate of 59 farms inhabited by the studied species was observed. Both species of owls preferred using three categories of buildings: cowsheds, warehouses and blocks of flats. Cases have been reported of the same building being simultaneously occupied by two species of owls. The study showed that the disappearance of sites of the studied owls is caused by factors connected with the decreasing intensity of farming. The most common of these factors turned out to be demolitions of buildings occupied by owls and the abandonment of animal production. Cases of predation by carnivore mammals were also reported. The process of disappearance of owl sites appears to manifest itself more intensely on those farms where residential and industrial infrastructure occupies a smaller area.

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Complementarity of Nesting Ornithocomplexes in Urban Faunae (through the example of Melitopol, Southern Ukraine)

International Journal of Innovative Technology and Exploring Engineering - Special Issue ◽

10.35940/ijitee.l2542.1081219 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 8 (12) ◽

pp. 2712-2717

Keyword(s):

Bird Species ◽

Agricultural Landscapes ◽

Phasianus Colchicus ◽

Widespread Species ◽

Ecological Structure ◽

Industrial Sites ◽

Dendrocopos Syriacus ◽

Phoenicurus Ochruros ◽

Athene Noctua ◽

The City

The results of the study of birds nesting in Melitopol conducted in 2011-2019 are presented. The distribution and correlation of bird species in urban biotopes based on a raster map with squares of 1x1 km is provided. There are 170 bird species registered in the city throughout the year, including 104 nesting species; over the last 50 years their number has increased by 69 species. Nesting ornithocomplex of the areas of the city with multi-storey buildings include 16 species, areas with individual buildings – 23 species, industrial sites - 21 species, green areas - 51 species, reed thickets - 27 species, agricultural landscapes - 24 species, floodplains - 9 species, floodplain meadows - 9 species. Over the last decades, birds of Corvidae family - Garrulus glandarius, Pica pica, Corvus monedula, C. frugilegus, C. cornix, C. corax - have inhabited the city and formed urbanized populations. Of the birds of prey - Falco tinnunculus and Athene noctua. The taxonomic and ecological structure of ornithocomplexes of the city is considered. The basis of ornithocomplexes are widespread species of synthantropes and dendrophylles. Introduced species (Phasianus colchicus) and invasive species (Streptopelia decaocto, Dendrocopos syriacus, D. minor, Phoenicurus ochruros, etc.) also inhabited the city. Representatives of the dendrophylic group predominate in the ecological structure of onitocomplexes of the studied area, which includes 47 species (45.2%), lymphophyllous group is represented by 26 species (25.0%), sclerophyllous – by 14 species (13.5%), campophyllous – by 9 species (8.7%), the limnophyllous-dendrophyllous group is represented by 1 species (0.9%), dendrophyllous-sclerophyllous – by 6 species (5.8%) and limnophyllous-sclerophyllous – by 1 species (0.9%). Complementarity of urban ornithocomplexes is high due to the syntantropic species - dendrophylles and sclerophylles.

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