Nest-Box use by the Barn Owl Tyto alba in a Biological Pest Control Program in the Beit She'an Valley, Israel

摘要

Startingin1983,nestboxesforBarnOwlsTytoalbawereerectedaspartofabiologicalpestcontrolprogramtodealwithrodents,inKibbutzSdeEliyahu,andlaterinotheragriculturalfieldsandplantationsintheBeitShe'anvalley,Israel.Morethanadecadeago,thenestboxschemewasextendedtoincludeotheragriculturalareasinthevalley,andgrewfrom14boxeson3km2in1983toabout300boxeson90km2throughouttheentireBeitShe'anvalleyin2007.Herewepresenttheresultsofastudyduringthe2002through2006breedingseasons,inwhich156to243nestboxesweremonitoredeachseason.Meanoccupationofnestboxesduringthestudywas53.5%(SE2.1,n=248),andatotalof596breedingattemptswererecorded,ofwhich85.2%successfullyfledgedatleastoneyoung.Yearlyoccupationofnestboxesvariedsignificantlybetweentheyears,rangingfrom48.1%to73.5%.Theoccupancyrateoffirst-yearnestboxeswaslowerthanthatofthoseavailablefortwoormoreyears.Theoccupancyrateandthenumberofnestlingsperbox(peryear)werepositivelycorrelatedtothedistancetotheclosestnestboxandnegativelycorrelatedtothenumberofnestboxeswithina500mradius.Similartootherstudiesintheworld,theerectionofnestboxesforBarnOwlsinagriculturalfieldsprovedextremelysuccessfulintheBeitShe'anvalley,with86.7%(n=248)ofnestboxesbeingoccupiedatleastonceduringthefive-yearstudyperiod.Thishighoccupancyratedemonstratesnotonlythatnaturalnestingsiteswerelacking,butalsothatnestboxescanbeusedtoincreaseBarnOwlpopulationsinagriculturalareas,bothforconservationandforbiologicalpestcontrol.