Short abstract from the book: The little owl used to be a common breeding bird in western
Denmark, but the distribution and population has decreased
dramatically and is now estimated at 100 pairs. Almost the
entire Danish population breeds in Himmerland in northeast
Jutland. The first little owls were ringed in Denmark in 1917,
with the highest numbers ringed in the late 1990s. Most of
the recovered birds were ringed as chicks. No foreign birds have been recovered in Denmark. The recoveries show that
little owls are very sedentary – the longest dispersal was 71 km.
There is no preferred direction of dispersal, and no birds have
dispersed between the regions (northern Jutland, southern
Jutland, Funen). The young little owls disperse in October
(mean distance 9 km); the mean distance to the ringing site
during winter was 21 km. The mean distance to the ringing
site of birds ringed as chicks and recovered in a subsequent
breeding season was 22 km (6-34 km, n=11). Two birds ringed as adults in the breeding season were recovered at the same
site in a subsequent breeding season; two further birds were
recovered within 6 km and one 34 km from the ringing site.
The mean distance for breeders recovered outside the breeding
season was 2 km (0-6, n=7). The majority of the recovered
birds were reported as dead, the most common known cause
of death being road accidents. Most adults were reported as
dead in February-March and in June-July; juveniles were
more evenly spread.
Read more about the species in the chapter from The Danish Bird Migration Atlashere
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