Prague, July 11 (CTK) – The little owl population has steeply declined by more than 90 percent in the Czech Republic in the past 20 years and now only some 130 couples have survived according to estimates, Martin Salek, from the Czech Society for Ornithology (CSO), has said.
The little owl used to be the most frequent type of owl living in the Czech territory in the past. However, its numbers have decreased due to a change in farming, for instance.
Steps must be taken quickly to protect the remaining population of this endangered species, Salek added.
This is why the CSO launched the projects of monitoring and protection of little owls this year.
Little owls primarily suffer from the intensification of agriculture that harms field birds in general. Many pastures near dwellings, which were their ideal habitats where they could find big insects on which they feed, disappeared.
Due to the lack of their natural food, little owls raise fewer young.
Though the number of pastures have increased in the past few years, the little owl population has not spread, Salek said.
The localities of little owl incidence have diminished and the density of its populations has decreased as well. Now they are scattered in few last localities, and this is why they are much more threatened with extinction, Salek said.
Little owls also mind severe winters with a lot of snow. Since they almost entirely nest in buildings, they are threatened by man as well.
“The number of little owls that die as a consequence of human activities is high,” Salek pointed out.
The little owl population has drastically declined not only in the Czech Republic, but in the whole Central Europe. The situation in some West and North European countries is even more critical. The numbers of little owls have dramatically decreased in the neighbouring Poland, Germany, Austria and Slovakia and in Denmark and Luxembourg, this species is on the verge of extinction.
