Nearly twenty thousand long-eared owls wintered in Hungary

(Photo: Pixabay)

At the end of January, the organization asked for the help of the population and the media to survey the long-eared owl flocks wintering in Hungary. Based on the data, the campaign was once again successful: at the time of the count, 19,503 long-eared owls wintered in at least 592 settlements and 1,386 locations in the country – they wrote. According to the experts, in addition to the population, the MME’s Raptor Conservation Department, its local groups, employees and volunteers, as well as the nature conservation guard services of the national park directorates, civil organizations and educational institutions also participated in the survey. Data was collected from all counties of Hungary and the capital with the participation of at least 415 surveyors.

The expanding data series of surveys repeated over several years allow for a number of conclusions to be drawn

Based on this year’s results, the role of owls in agriculture is particularly significant: a tawny owl consumes an average of at least 2.5 small rodents per day. During the approximately 150-day wintering period, the population currently observed can thus destroy at least 7,313,625 rodents that cause agricultural damage. This quantity corresponds to a prey animal the size of a field vole with a total weight of approximately 183 tons. All this is of significant help to farmers, as owls reduce the number of pests naturally, without the use of chemicals – the press release drew attention to this. MME emphasized that the results of the survey also support the importance of protecting owls and supporting their breeding.

MTI