Transactions
of the Azov-Black Sea Ornithological Station
Breeding of Great Grey Owl (Strix nebulosa Forster, 1772) on the Southern border of forest nature zone in Zhytomyr region
O. V. Gryb 1, Y. V. Kuzmenko 2
2 - Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology NAS of Ukraine.
Data on the breeding sites of Great Grey Owl were collected on the territory of Ukraine. It is shown that the species settled in the territories of Volyn, Rivne, Zhytomyr, and Kyiv regions. The species is most common in Rivne and Zhytomyr regions. As a result of expansion Great Grey Owl reached the Southern border of the forest and forest-steppe nature zones. Breeding of this species was registered in the vicinities of Myropil town, Romanovsky district, Zhytomyr region. This is the southernmost species breeding point in Ukraine. The residential nest had been firstly found here in 2014, but the result of breeding wasn’t established. In 2016 owls started breeding, laying the clutch, but abandoned it for an unknown reason. In both cases, owls bred for the second year after the Common Buzzard breeding. Birch-pine and oak forest were the breeding habitats. This record is the southernmost breeding point of Great Grey Owl in Ukraine and Europe.
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