Short abstract from the book: The Danish barn owl population decreased to 20-25 breeding
pairs in the late 1980s, but has since increased to 225-250
pairs in 2003. In Denmark the first barn owl was ringed in
1921, with the highest number ringed in 2002 (358). Most of
the recovered birds were ringed in southern Jutland. Ninetyfive per cent of the recovered birds were ringed as chicks, all
from 16 May to 21 November. Barn owls ringed as chicks
have on average travelled 42 km (0-689, n=181) from
ringing to recovery site; 24 % were recovered more than 50
km from the ringing site. The 24 birds that were recovered
from abroad (Germany, Sweden and Poland) were all ringed
as chicks. The recoveries indicate that most first-year birds
disperse in September-October. However, there seems to be
a considerable difference between birds from early and late
clutches in the distances travelled in the first year: birds ringed
in May-August were recovered an average of 47 km from the
ringing site (0-689 km, n=132), whereas birds ringed in
September-November moved only 3 km (0-35 km, n=19).
Birds ringed as chicks and recovered in a subsequent breeding
season were found on average 44 km (0-152 km, n=38) from
the ringing site. Five per cent were found more than 152 km
from the ringing site.
Several foreign barn owls have been found in Denmark:
134 from Germany, four from the Netherlands, one from
Belgium and nine from southern Sweden. The majority of
the foreign birds were found in Jutland, but 22 were found
east of the Little Belt. The longest distance was travelled by
a bird ringed as a chick near Stuttgart in Germany in June
and found seven months later at Skagen in northernmost
Denmark (983 km N). A large invasion took place in 1990-
91: 58 birds ringed abroad were recovered in Denmark in
1990-92 and 79 % of these were ringed in 1990 (some as
far away as southern Germany). A smaller invasion probably
took place in 1993-94, with 17 birds ringed abroad in 1993
subsequently recovered in Denmark. All birds in these invasions were ringed as chicks.
Twenty per cent of the recoveries were live recaptures. A
relative large proportion of the dead barn owls were found
dead in buildings or as road kill.
Read more about the species in the chapter from The Danish Bird Migration Atlashere
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