Thursday 21 July 2011

Barn Owl takes a death-ride

As part of the pest control via Barn Owls and Kestrels project, every year hundreds of nestlings of Barn Owls and Kestrels ringed. Annually, we receive tens of reports about unlucky juveniles that get themselves killed in various methods.
On July 18th we received an exceptional report about a ringed owl found dead on a service vehicle belonging to the Israeli Electric Company. After a short investigation the details became clear: the dead owl carrying ring GG-22439 was found on the vehicle in Taibe in N Israel, but the vehicle had driven during the previous night from Be'er-Sheva to Taibe (about 120 km). Its original ringing site was close to the road between Be'er-Sheva and Taibe, so the bird must have been hit by the vehicle and carried on it northward. We will never know exactly where this bird was run over.