Re:New Tonga island 'now home to flowers and owls'
by analog31 on Thursday February 07, 2019 @06:48PM
(#19109864)
What do they eat? Other birds? Or does the presence of owls indicate the presence of small rodents?
Re:New Tonga island 'now home to flowers and owls'
by smackay on Friday February 08, 2019 @08:53AM
(#19114064)
Mostly small mammals but also small reptiles and insects. In this case I think it is likely to be the latter.
To give you some idea of how widespread this species is, there are Barn Owls on the Desertas Islands, (SE of Madeira), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desertas_Islands. These islands are as dry as the name suggests and are little more than rock with short grass. There is a plentiful supply of (introduced) mice and lizards however.
For a species that (supposedly) does not disperse very far from their natal area, https://www.researchgate.net/profile/German_Lopez-Iborra/pub..., they certainly get around.
Next stop Antarctica.
I was surprised to learn recently that Barn Owls are one of the most prevalent avian species across the whole world:
>> The barn owl is the most widespread landbird species in the world, occurring in every continent except Antarctica. Its range includes all of Europe (except Fennoscandia and Malta), most of Africa apart from the Sahara, the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, Australia, many Pacific Islands, and North, Central and South America.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barn_owl#Distribution