Five Scops owls with an important mission
In the first half of July DOPPS-BirdLife Slovenia carried out installation of GPS loggers on five Scops owls to identify habitats that this endangered and Natura 2000 species needs. Due to the results DOPPS-BirdLife Slovenia and Goričko Nature Park Public Institute will prepare more efficient conservation guidelines for the Scops owl population within the Goričko Natura 2000 site.
4 female and 1 male Scops owl were equipped with GPS loggers. As already in previous years in Goričko they were named after Greek gods, goddesses or other mythological heroes.
First Scops owl with GPS logger was Artemis which has only one chick. Demeter with 2 chicks, Hera with 3 fluffy chicks and Helen with 5 chick followed her. The only male was named Apollo and he needs to feed 3 chicks. All of them were ringed to understand what is happening to birds in the places they live in the future.
Loggers were set on the owl back like a backpacks since this is the least disturbing for birds. Before installation every bird was weighted and tested that the weight of the logger did not exceed 3 % of the bird body mass.
Nevertheless the installation was the easier part. Data is stored on logger and for this reason we must get GPS loggers back.
