Habitat: Many long-eared owls have made their home in urban and suburban environments. This change in habitat has altered their hunting behaviours, home ranges and even diets. One study done in the Czech Republic found the Eurasian subspecies to have a recently colonized urban areas due to an increase of magpies who’s nests the owls use. The home ranges, the area utilized by an individual owl or pair, was significantly larger in urban environments than those in suburban. This is likely due to the local green spaces not being as productive for hunting as other environments, causing owls to travel further distances to find the same amount of food. Long-eared owls are vole specialists and will specifically target voles within the genus 𝘔𝘪𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘶𝘴. These voles are often lacking in urban environments, causing many owls to seek out other food sources, namely rats and mice which are by far more frequent in these areas. While many cities and towns can harm wildlife by destroying important habitats, some species are finding ways to adapt to these anthropogenic environments. This individual is likely only passing through as he and his partner had left the park a few days after this photo was taken.
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Ethics: Long-eared owls are predators, preying almost exclusively on 𝘔𝘪𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘶𝘴 voles. Despite this, they often fall prey themselves to larger birds such as red-tailed hawks, peregrine falcons, great horned owls and even barred owls. To avoid being preyed upon, these surprisingly small owls hide in trees, close to the trunk which provides the best cover. Unfortunately this can make them easy targets for photographers. Having to be constantly aware of their surroundings, long-eared owls wake up easily and can easily be flushed, scared off to a new spot. There, they can become prey to large raptors. Photographers can easily avoid this by keeping a respectful distance, not spending too much time photographing an individual owl and not sharing spots. If a spot is shared, many photographers will flock to photograph the animal, causing untold stress which can hinder hunting behaviour or cause them to be more open to predators. In many instances, while photographing other animals, waves of photographers were observed coming through a woodlot and end up flushing the local long-eared owl. Each wave of people caused the owl to move to a new spot, often times somewhere out in the open where predators could find him.
Sources:
Hagenslocher, Christian. "The Long-Eared Owl." The Birding Project, 7 Jan. 2017, www.thebirdingproject.com/blog/2017/1/6/the-long-eared-owl. Accessed 10 Dec. 2021. Lövy, Matěj, and Jan Riegert. "Home Range and Land Use of Urban Long-Eared Owls." Oxford Academic, The Condor, 1 Aug. 2013, academic.oup.com/condor/article/115/3/551/5152885. Accessed 10 Dec. 2021. Village, A. "The Diet and Breeding of Long-Eared Owls in Relation to Vole Numbers." Taylor & Francis Online, 1981, www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00063658109476726. Accessed 10 Dec. 2021. |