Grass Owl - 4th breeding site

Hi all,

The circumstances of the discovery of this fourth nest (5 chicks) of Grass Owl are very special.

Indeed, this nest has been founded by local people 2 weeks ago, and they showed me the place. It’s quite a mess there. The grass has been trampled flat in many places, a “visitor-made” path lead to the nest and the chicks are completely exposed to the elements – but they are well, that’s the most important.

Another surprise was the habitat. Not dozens of hectares of treeless grasslands like in the first three breeding sites, but just a 4-5 hectares mosaic of thickets, wooded patches and dry reedbeds - so a rather closed habitat -, with some gaps of grassland created by fire (dominated by a pioneer graminoid that enter an area soon after it has been burned). Those small patches of dense grass cover are gradually colonised by reeds.
The nest is located in dense grass tussocks (80 cm high), 20 meters from trees.

The nest as I founded it. The vegetation has been trampled down by the numerous visitors

and the chicks are completely exposed

The breeding site, wedged between tall reeds and thickets.

This area has been burned 2 years ago. Fires at the correct time of year,

in controlled situations, can be very beneficial for this species, especially here where the encroachment of woody vegetation seems to be very dynamic

This small patch of grasslands is grazing by horses. But the owner -who have discovered the owls - keep them away from the nest !

Horses grazing 40m from the nest. Total incompatibility with the presence

of an owl's nest. Fortunately, the owner is a good guy

Before leaving the place, I built a new “home” for the chicks which like - and need, because of the bad weather - to be enveloped by the vegetation.

So, four nests now: 1 destroyed (by fire), 2 more or less threatened (including this one), 1 away from human activities. Probably, the Grass Owl is not as rare as we think, but one thing is sure: its habitat is subject to high - and probably increasing - human pressure (fires during the breeding season, conversion of grasslands to cultivation, overgrazing...), at least along the Red river.

Sebastien