Eastern Screech Owl Project Presentation for Life on the Planet Earth Class. Part of NYC Ecology Wiki

1. Eastern Screech-Owl
(Megascops asio)
By Liz Yaslik NYC Ecology Wiki

2. About the Owl
 Small in size among other “eared” owls
 Nocturnal raptor
 Usually red or gray in color
 Found in suburban and rural areas
 Non- migratory (stays relatively close to home area)

3. Flickr Photo by Bobtravis

4. Habitat
 Found in suburban and rural areas
 Cavity nester but do not create the cavities
themselves
 Lives in many parks in New York City
 Willing to use nest boxes placed in parks

5. Screech Owl
in Nest Box
Flickr Photo by Gilintx

6. Central Park Reintroduction
 Native to Central Park for decades
 Decrease in population from 1930s-1950s
 New York City Urban Park Rangers worked to
reintroduce the owl into the park
 1998- NYCUPR released 6 owls into Central Park
-the owls were not equipped with monitoring devices
 2001 & 2002- NYCUPR released 32 owls into Central
Park
- 30 of the owls were equipped with radio transmitters

7. Central
Park
New York City
Flickr Photo by Jimbowen0306

8. Central Park Reintroduction
 Released owls were found to have 23% survival rate
 Suggests that about 77% of owls died or left the area
 Owl deaths due to lack of food, predation, impact with
objects, or rodenticide poison
 2003- None of the 7 owls released in 1998 were found
 7 owls from the 2001-2 release remained in the park

9. Flickr Photo by Dobak

10. Tracking the Owls
 Owls were banded and equipped with radio
transmitter backpacks
One month after 2001 release, 12 of 17 birds

equipped with radio backpacks had been separated
from backpacks
By 2003 all transmitter batteries had died

Central Park bird watchers contacted researchers

about sightings
Call surveys using owl calls

Collecting owl pellets to locate


11. Eastern Screech
Owl Sightings
Since 2001
Map Created By Liz
Yaslik using Google
Earth

12. Problems with Reintroduction
 Most of the owls had slipped out of transmitter packs
 Batteries of packs died
 A decrease in bird watchers could lead to a decrease
in bird sightings, not necessarily a decrease in owls

13. Possible Causes of Owl Decrease
 Lack of males or females, slowing reproduction rates
 Poor weather conditions
 Increase in owl predators
 Collision of owls with other structures
 Habitat or cavity destruction/competitors
 Fewer bird watchers

14. Red Phase
Eastern
Screech Owl
Flickr Photo by rbs10025

15. Importance of Reintroduction
 Maintain biodiversity in New York City
 Necessary for park ecosystem
 Create breeding pairs

16. Click to play virtual tour

17. Personal Observations
 Relatively difficult to track the owls
 Radio transmitters are not reliable
 Most owls left Central Park area, the owls may know
which areas are best

18. Recommendations
 Since 77% of reintroduction population left the
area, discontinue reintroduction
Research why owls choose other areas

Keep track of number of males and females

Check availability of owl habitats, add more nest

boxes if necessary
Track the owls’ available food sources and

reproduction rates

19. Bibliography
Bibliography

Andrle, Robert F. 1987. The Atlas of Breeding Birds in New York State. Ed. Janet R. Carroll.

Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

Audubon New York. Audubon Sharon: Resident Animals, Our Resident Screech Owls.

http://www.audubon.org/local/sanctuary/sharon/plant_animal/EasternScreechOwl.html.

Belthoff, James R. 1993. Home Ranges of Adult and Juvenile Eastern Screech-Owls: Size,

Seasonal Variation and Extent of Overlap. J. Raptor Res. 27: 8-15.

DeCandido, Robert. 2002. quot;The Screech-Owls of Central Park.quot; Birder's World 16, no. 6: 58.


Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed March 1, 2009).


DeCandido, Robert. 2005. History of the Eastern Screech-Owl (Megascops asio) in New York

City 1867-2005. Urban Habitats 3.1 (2005): 1-17.

Gehlbach, F.R. 1995. Eastern screech-owl (Otus asio). In Poole, A. & F. Gill, (Eds.) The birds of

North America (No. 165). Philadelphia: Academy of Natural Sciences; Washington, DC:

American Ornithologists' Union.

Nagy, Christopher. “The Eastern Screech Owl Reintroduction Program in Central Park, New

York City: Habitat, Survival, and Reproduction” (M.S. Biology Thesis, Fordham

University, 2004), 1-46.

New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. The Daily Plant: Screech Owls Return to

Central Park. http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/prospectpark/dailyplant/11498.

Robbins, Chandler S., Bertel Bruun, and Herbert S. Zim. 1966. A Guide to Field Indentification:

Birds of North America. New York: Golden Press.

Sibley, David A. 2001. National Audubon Society: The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior.

Eds. Elphick, Chris, John B. Dunning Jr. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
