Assessing patterns of barn owl <i>Tyto alba</i> occupancy from call broadcast surveys

Regan, Tempe; McClure, Christopher J. W.; Belthoff, James R.

doi:10.2981/wlb.00411

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…With similar results reported in Israel, where nest boxes are more likely to be occupied when farther from roads (Charter et al 2012) and, in Portugal, where barn owl occurrence is negatively associated with distance to major roads (Grilo et al 2014), this relationship is not unique to Idaho. In contrast to our results, however, distance to road had no effect on site occupancy during winter and early spring at point-count locations in other nearby regions of southern Idaho (Regan et al 2018). There is also evidence that barn owls are attracted to roadside verges (Hindmarch et al 2017, Arnold et al 2019); thus, it is possible that owls in our study avoided nesting near roads but still occupied those areas for other reasons, such as foraging.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

Roads reduce breeding occupancy and productivity in barn owls

Busby,

Gordon,

Belthoff

2024

J Wildl Manag

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Urbanization and expanding road networks threaten some avian populations through habitat loss and degradation. Barn owls (Tyto alba) have been particularly affected through roadway mortality, loss of grassland, and conversion or destruction of nesting sites. To combat declines and bolster reproduction, and as part of integrated pest management to reduce crop damage, some land managers provide supplemental owl nesting sites via the installation of nest boxes. If nearby habitat and land cover characteristics are not considered when placing boxes, such as major roads or other anthropogenic features, owls could be attracted to locations that could hinder populations further. We investigated the effects of roads and urban areas on barn owl breeding occupancy and productivity to provide information to help guide the placement of nest boxes. We monitored >300 nest boxes over the 2020 and 2021 breeding seasons in southwestern Idaho, USA, where substantial roadway mortality of barn owls occurs. Barn owls occupied >60% of nest boxes, but the likelihood of breeding occupancy decreased with increasing proximity of nest boxes to roads. Boxes 500 m from roads had a predicted probability of occupancy of over 0.9, which was nearly double that of boxes within 100 m. Proximity to roads also was associated with reduced productivity such that boxes within 100 m of roads were predicted to produce approximately 1 fewer fledgling than those 500 m away. There was no evidence that the proportion of urban area surrounding nest boxes substantially influenced breeding occupancy or productivity. Thus, land managers can consider placing nest boxes for barn owls farther from roads when possible as a potential tactic to increase the probability of breeding occupancy and to foster higher productivity.

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