The population of Ural owls in north-eastern Bavaria is growing. 20 animals have been released these days, as announced by the Association for Landscape Conservation and Species Protection in Bavaria (VLAB) based in Erbendorf (Tirschenreuth district). The young birds should be at home in the forests of the Upper Palatinate and Upper Franconia. Since the start of the reintroduction project in 2017, 80 Ural owls have been released into the wild.
13 Ural owls were bred in zoos, falconries and wildlife parks in France, two from Belgium. Two come from the Bavarian Forest National Park and three animals are capital city owls from Tierpark Berlin. VLAB Chairman Johannnes Bradtka is delighted with the large network that has developed over the past few years. This is also intended to create genetic diversity within the population. This would make the owl birds more resilient.
Before being released, the animals are housed in aviaries where they can acclimate to their new environment in the forest. During this time they are still fed. The mortality rate of released Ural owls is between 40 and 50 percent, says Bradtka. The most common cause of death is traffic accidents, i.e. collisions with trucks or cars.
The association has hung around 220 incubators for the animals in the forests of the Fichtelgebirge, the Hessenreuther and Oberpfälzer forests, in the Steinwald, on the Grafenwöhr military training area and across the border to the Czech Republic in the Bohemian Forest. In 2024, the VLAB wants to equip particularly well-developed young owls with battery-powered transmitters before they are released in order to learn more about their distribution after release. That was actually planned for this year, but has now been delayed for organizational reasons.
The Ural owl is the largest and at the same time one of the rarest owls in Central Europe. It is about 60 centimeters tall, has a wingspan of 125 centimeters and can live more than 20 years. In Germany it has been considered extinct for around 100 years. The resettlement project is funded by the Heinz Sielmann Foundation, among others.