Ural owl (Strix uralensis) nesting in floodplain forest in the Východoslovenská rovina Plain

Abstract

Ural owl (Strix uralensis) nesting in floodplain forest in the Východoslovenská rovina Plain Ural owls started nesting in smaller patches of woodland on the border between the Východoslovenská pahorkatina Upland and the Východoslovenská rovina Plain since 1994. The first data of the presence of Ural owls also in floodplain forest along the Latorica River in eastern Slovakia come from 1926, at first during the winter, and from 1998 also during the nesting period. In 2003 this species was heard in autumn courtship in this area, and on March 31, 2010 the first instance of nesting was noted in woodland to the south of the town Veľké Kapušany in the old nest of a common buzzard (Buteo buteo). This instance of nesting in wetland forest is the first nesting record of this species in this unusual nesting habitat in Slovakia.