As we start to look through the information generated this season from GPS data loggers fitted on Barn Owls, one of the obvious and consistent features is how foraging Barn Owls seek out linear features in the landscape, particularly hedgerows, and also features such as stream and river edges, woodland edges, and the rough grass of road-side verges. This is expected, but never before have we seen the foraging preference of Barn Owls, and the importance of hedgerows and edge habitats, in such detail.
We can see in this video of the movements of an adult female Barn Owl from a nest site in north Kerry. On a night in late July - in this case about 45 minutes of a 75 minute foraging trip - virtually all of her time is spent hunting along these features.
North Kerry landscape showing typical hedgerow, woodland edge and road margins, vital foraging habitat for Barn Owls (M.O'Clery).
We can see in this video of the movements of an adult female Barn Owl from a nest site in north Kerry. On a night in late July - in this case about 45 minutes of a 75 minute foraging trip - virtually all of her time is spent hunting along these features.
The female Barn Owl just before release, with the
data logger just visible above her tail (J.Lusby/M.O'Clery, under licence from NPWS/BTO).
The nest site of this female Barn Owl, in a derelict cottage in north Kerry (M.O’Clery, under licence from NPWS).
With the information recorded on the GPS data logger we pick up on her journey while she is perching in a tree 500m from her nest site. She then takes off to hunt along hedgerow, pausing to perch again on trees and bushes (red dots show where the bird is stationary), and several telegraph poles, where she stops, most likely to listen for prey. The slow hunting flight (orange dots) is almost entirely along hedgerow and field edges, and, with the interior of improved fields virtually ignored, the faster direct flight (yellow dots) is mainly to cross a field to get to the next foraging area along the field boundaries.
Video of foraging flight of a female Barn Owl in north Co. Kerry. The video pauses to show the actual view of the road along which she hunted, perching on each of the telegraph poles along the road, most likely listening for prey (J.Lusby/M.O'Clery, under licence from NPWS/BTO).
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Research on Barn Owl foraging behaviour is funded by Transport Infrastructure Ireland.
