Open AccessThe Breeding of Scops Owl (Otus Scops) in Iaşi County (Eastern Romania). A Habitat Selectivity Study
Author(s) -
Lucian Eugen Bolboacă,
Viorel Pocora,
Emanuel Ştefan Baltag
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
travaux du muséum national d'histoire naturelle "grigore antipa"
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.115
H-Index - 2
eISSN - 2247-0735
pISSN - 1223-2254
DOI - 10.2478/travmu-2013-0016
Subject(s) - habitat , geography , ecology , biology
Scops Owl (Otus scops) is a small sized owl that is a summer visitor and a breeding species in Romania. It underwent a moderate decline in Europe in the last decades, probably due to habitat loss. In Romania, it is a poorly studied species of birds. Breeding data were uncertain for Iași County. During 2010 and 2012, we identified a number of 26 Scops Owl territories. In each territory, we mapped the habitats on an area that followed a radius of 200 m from the observed bird. Thus, we identified a number of 15 habitats. From all 15 habitats mapped, the open pastures with isolated clumps of trees and bushes were best represented (15.53%) of the total habitat types of the study area. Also, in Iași County we observed a sinantropism of Scops Owl, due to the fact that 10 out of 26 territories (38.5%) are situated in anthropic habitat.