Addressing a deadly risk for Eurasian eagle owls
Conservation focus:
Eurasian eagle owl
Scientific name:
Bubo bubo
Scientific classification:
Birds, Strigiformes, Strigidae
IUCN status:
EDGE status:
LC (least concern)
Not listed
Threatened evolutionary history:
Not evaluated
Conservation priority by EDGE rank / ecosystem
Why it matters
While being of “least concern” globally, this majestic bird is regionally rare. In Switzerland, it is endangered (EN). Even protected species can perish due to threats from their habitat. In a canton of Switzerland the local population was stable at low levels, but only because of immigration of juveniles from France and Italy. Many eagle owls of the local population were killed at a number of power poles which were attractive but deadly perching sites – an untenable situation. The Swiss ornithological institute was looking for a donor to sponsor the mapping of all power poles in the canton. This work, funded by us, allows to eliminate power poles identified as death traps.
Project fast facts
Focal species' population trend
Increasing
Local conservation attention
Moderate
Range / Project area
Ecological role
Nocturnal apex predatory bird
Threats
Electrocution at death-trap middle-voltage power poles. This project exemplifies that sometimes protection of a species will not reach a conservation goal unless a habitat management action is implemented. In this case we facilitated the elimination of infrastructure that killed more individuals than natural reproduction was able to resupply.
Grant
First awarded:
$ 9,000
13 December 2012
Not listed
Programme owner
University of Bern, Conservation biology
Programme contact
Prof. Raphael Arlettaz
Project location
Switzerland
Place de la Gare, Sion, Switzerland
Addressing the need: Project goals
Reduce deaths from middle-voltage power lines (habitat management project)
This was a habitat management project conducted in Switzerland for a locally rare owl species living outside any protected area.
The Eurasian eagle owl (Bubo bubo) was suffering heavy losses from electrocution at numerous power poles in the canton of Valais. These were so significant that the local population was stable only because of immigration from neighbouring countries, while the native breeding population was unable to sustain its numbers. The power poles were effectively acting as a death traps for eagle owls, which were attracted to them as they seemed to offer prime perching sites.
To help resolve this situation, we paid a grant for developing an interactive information system. This IT system was designed to map those middle-voltage power poles in the Valais (Switzerland) which were associated with high Eagle owl casualty rates.
Conservation actions
The map allowed identifying poles that needed to be refurbished in order to eliminate the death risk for the eagle owls.
