The discovery of a nest of the nation’s largest owl species will allow researchers to better study this secretive bird, a wildlife conservation expert said yesterday.
The head of the Institute of Wildlife Conservation at National Pingtung University of Science and Technology said he tracked a female tawny fish owl to its nest in the mountains of Shei-pa National Park in October last year.
Sun Yuan-hsun (孫元勳) said the two eggs that were in the bird’s nest when he found it in a tree trunk had hatched on March 27 and the baby owls were learning to fly.
The owls’ nests are usually difficult to find because they are not built from twigs like those of most other birds and the owls only come out at night, said Sun, who has been studying owls for years. The last time he found a tawny fish owl nest was 16 years ago, he said.
However, with the help of modern equipment, Sun said he was able to track the female bird and observe its breeding behavior and the hatching process. He will now be able to follow the birds’ life cycle by tracking the baby owls, he said.
Sun said tawny fish owls could also be found in China, Vietnam and Nepal, but most research on the species has been done in Taiwan.
A fully grown tawny fish owl can be up to 55cm in height, can weigh up to 2kg and has an average lifespan of 16 years, he said.
The owls usually live in mountains at altitudes of 50m to 2,400m and tend to remain close to the upper reaches of rivers, feeding on fish and small animals.
The tawny fish owl is a protected species in Taiwan and there are estimated to be 1,000 left.
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