<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>The Ural owl (<italic>Strix uralensis</italic>) is considered to be a habitat specialist preferring structurally heterogeneous old montane forests in Central Europe. Unlike the sympatric tawny owl (<italic>Strix aluco</italic>), the Ural owl is negatively affected by human activities in its forest habitats and usually avoids human settlements. Although the young birds and wintering adults show no strong dependence on the size of forest patches and their structure, there are only a few studies on the occurrence of this owl species in non-forest and urban habitats. Here we describe several observations of wintering Ural owls in south-eastern and south-western Slovakia outside the forests during the winter 2017/2018. The Ural owls were recorded in agricultural country, but not infrequently also in human settlements.</p></abstract>

The Ural owl (Strix uralensis) is considered to be a habitat specialist preferring structurally heterogeneous old montane forests in Central Europe. Unlike the sympatric tawny owl (Strix aluco), the Ural owl is negatively affected by human activities in its forest habitats and usually avoids human settlements. Although the young birds and wintering adults show no strong dependence on the size of forest patches and their structure, there are only a few studies on the occurrence of this owl species in non-forest and urban habitats. Here we describe several observations of wintering Ural owls in south-eastern and south-western Slovakia outside the forests during the winter 2017/2018. The Ural owls were recorded in agricultural country, but not infrequently also in human settlements.

Unusual frequent occurrence of Ural owls (<italic>Strix uralensis</italic>) in urban and rural habitats in the lowlands of southern Slovakia during the winter 2017/2018

Department of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Education

Raptor Journal

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Unusual frequent occurrence of Ural owls () in urban and rural habitats in the lowlands of southern Slovakia during the winter 2017/2018

The Ural owl (Strix uralensis) is considered to be a habitat specialist preferring structurally heterogeneous old montane forests in Central Europe. Unlike the...

Unusual frequent occurrence of Ural owls (Strix uralensis) in urban and rural habitats in the lowlands of southern Slovakia during the winter 2017/2018

Published Online: Mar 02, 2019

Page range: 63 - 69

Received: Oct 24, 2018

Accepted: Dec 23, 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/srj-2018-0006

Keywords
wintering, synanthropy, lowland, Central Europe, Carpathians

© 2018 Michal Baláž et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Unusual frequent occurrence of Ural owls (Strix uralensis) in urban and rural habitats in the lowlands of southern Slovakia during the winter 2017/2018

Published Online: Mar 02, 2019

Page range: 63 - 69

Received: Oct 24, 2018

Accepted: Dec 23, 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/srj-2018-0006

Keywordswintering, synanthropy, lowland, Central Europe, Carpathians

© 2018 Michal Baláž et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
wintering, synanthropy, lowland, Central Europe, Carpathians