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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/owls/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Tue, 22 Sep 2026 02:01:37 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<title>News on Owls</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/owls/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>David Johnson, the owl man of Umatilla</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/david-johnson-the-owl-man-of-umatilla/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/david-johnson-the-owl-man-of-umatilla/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Jul 2026 00:21:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/27202647/david-johnson-dj-owls-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324549</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[North America, Oregon, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Biology, Birds, Conservation, Ex-situ Conservation, Obituary, Owls, Raptors, Species recovery, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[At the former Umatilla Chemical Depot in eastern Oregon, the weapons were gone, though their presence had shaped the land. Concrete bunkers stood among sagebrush and dry grass. Pronghorn moved through the open country. Badgers, once common there, had largely disappeared. Their absence mattered to the small owls that lived close to the ground. Burrowing [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[At the former Umatilla Chemical Depot in eastern Oregon, the weapons were gone, though their presence had shaped the land. Concrete bunkers stood among sagebrush and dry grass. Pronghorn moved through the open country. Badgers, once common there, had largely disappeared. Their absence mattered to the small owls that lived close to the ground. Burrowing owls do not usually dig their own homes. They occupy tunnels made by mammals, especially badgers and prairie dogs. At Umatilla, the decline of those animals had removed much of the owls’ shelter. By the late 2000s, only a few breeding pairs remained. David H. Johnson, who died on June 15th, aged 69, decided that the shortage of burrows could be addressed. He and his collaborators buried plastic barrels and connected them to the surface with lengths of pipe. The structures were crude substitutes for badger burrows, intended to keep the population breeding while the recovery of its habitat remained a longer-term task. The owls accepted them. Within a year, the number of breeding pairs had risen. Over the following decade, the depot became home to one of the region’s most closely studied burrowing-owl populations. Researchers banded chicks, recorded calls, tested nest designs, and tracked the birds’ movements. By 2024, they were monitoring more than 100 nesting attempts and had banded nearly 500 chicks that season. Johnson had been interested in owls since childhood. At 11, while camping alone, he heard an eastern screech owl calling outside his tent. The bird landed close enough for&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/david-johnson-the-owl-man-of-umatilla/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324549</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Nepal’s Central Zoo faces questions over its bird flu response</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/nepals-central-zoo-faces-questions-over-its-bird-flu-response/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/nepals-central-zoo-faces-questions-over-its-bird-flu-response/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Jun 2026 16:55:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Deepak Adhikari]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/25161349/Sarus_Crane_Central_Zoo_Nepal-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321835</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Global, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Cats, Conservation, Diseases, Ex-situ Conservation, Health, Leopards, Owls, Wildlife, Zoonotic Diseases, and Zoos]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — A dead crow was found inside Nepal’s Central Zoo around “mid-June,” the exact date remains unknown. Then birds including a barn owl (Tyto alba) tested positive for avian influenza (bird flu) in a rapid test. Zoo authorities then sent samples to the Central Veterinary Laboratory on June 15. The zoo and officials from [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — A dead crow was found inside Nepal’s Central Zoo around “mid-June,” the exact date remains unknown. Then birds including a barn owl (Tyto alba) tested positive for avian influenza (bird flu) in a rapid test. Zoo authorities then sent samples to the Central Veterinary Laboratory on June 15. The zoo and officials from the semi-government body running it have given conflicting accounts of when the first deaths were detected and when bird flu was suspected. The facility remained open for several days, raising questions over its disease response during a major outbreak in Kathmandu Valley, where infected crows and fowl had already been reported in nearby Kirtipur. Ganesh Koirala, spokesperson for the Central Zoo, said officials found a dead crow inside the zoo on June 13. “Although the rapid test had already indicated infection, laboratory confirmation was necessary,” Koirala said. “It took 72 hours for the lab to send the results.” That account differs from Rachana Shah, spokesperson for the National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC), the semi-government body that manages the zoo. She said a crow and a pigeon were found dead on June 12, a date also confirmed by a veterinary official. House crows make a nest on a tree in Kathmandu. Image courtesy of Dinesh Bhusal. “During summer, pigeons and crows can also die because of heat stress, so at that point we could not immediately conclude that it was bird flu,” she said. But Koirala’s timeline indicated the zoo had an early warning by&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/nepals-central-zoo-faces-questions-over-its-bird-flu-response/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321835</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How are California&#8217;s birds faring amid ever more frequent wildfires?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/how-are-californias-birds-faring-amid-ever-more-frequent-wildfires/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/how-are-californias-birds-faring-amid-ever-more-frequent-wildfires/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Dec 2025 14:33:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gloria Dickie]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/30150019/13-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312309</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[California, North America, Sierra Nevada, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation, Air Pollution, Animal Behavior, Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Climate Change, Conservation, data, Ecology, Ecosystems, Environment, Fires, Forests, Monitoring, Owls, Research, Trees, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the forests of the Sierra Nevada, the black-backed woodpecker is without parallel. The bird appears almost born of fire, thriving on the flames that flicker through California’s coniferous forests every few years. Swooping in shortly after a blaze subsides, this woodpecker species, Picoides arcticus, nests in the hollowed-out trees the burn has left behind, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the forests of the Sierra Nevada, the black-backed woodpecker is without parallel. The bird appears almost born of fire, thriving on the flames that flicker through California’s coniferous forests every few years. Swooping in shortly after a blaze subsides, this woodpecker species, Picoides arcticus, nests in the hollowed-out trees the burn has left behind, gorging on an abundance of longhorn and bark beetles. Throughout the forest, a steady whack-whack can be heard from the birds&#8217; bills drilling into charred wood. The relationship between wildlife and wildfire is a complicated one. Many bird species, like the black-backed woodpecker, need the occasional inferno to create new habitat by opening up the forest canopy and increasing available food by kicking off a boom in insect populations. “While it’s ephemeral, it’s a native habitat of California that many species rely on and have evolved with over millions of years,” says ornithologist Morgan Tingley, whose research at the University of California, Los Angeles, focuses on the interplay of fire and bird populations. The black-backed woodpecker thrives on fires that burn through California’s coniferous forests every few years, opening the forest and creating an abundance  of insects they feed on. Image by Morgan Tingley/UCLA. But historically, this dynamic rested on moderate or mixed-severity fire — not the raging “megafires” that now scorch through the American West and leave little behind. In California, fires have burned more than 5.3 million hectares (13 million acres) over the past decade. In 2020 alone, blazes ripped through more than&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/how-are-californias-birds-faring-amid-ever-more-frequent-wildfires/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312309</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Dream birds’ in the mist: First photo of ‘lost’ bird in DRC mountains</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/dream-birds-in-the-mist-first-photo-of-lost-bird-in-drc-mountains/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/dream-birds-in-the-mist-first-photo-of-lost-bird-in-drc-mountains/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Sep 2024 12:10:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ryan Truscott]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/09/20124426/YCHE-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=287629</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, Congo Basin, Democratic Republic Of Congo, and East Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Birding, Birds, Climate Change, Endangered Species, Extinction, Forests, Owls, Research, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Michael Harvey recalls the moment he first saw a flock of yellow-crested helmetshrikes flitting through a cloud forest in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo: the first confirmed sighting by scientists of the species in 16 years. “It was more bizarre and exciting than I could have imagined,” says Harvey, an ornithologist and assistant professor [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Michael Harvey recalls the moment he first saw a flock of yellow-crested helmetshrikes flitting through a cloud forest in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo: the first confirmed sighting by scientists of the species in 16 years. “It was more bizarre and exciting than I could have imagined,” says Harvey, an ornithologist and assistant professor at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). In December 2023, he and a team of U.S. and DRC ornithologists and herpetologists trekked for weeks in cars, on motorbikes and on foot to reach the Itombwe massif, on the western edge of the Albertine Rift, a vast ecoregion of mountains, valleys and forests spanning five countries in East Africa. Harvey and a DRC assistant had left their camp to hike up a ridge to look for cloud forest birds. When they reached a fern meadow in a natural forest clearing, rain clouds swept in, and thick swirling mist reduced visibility to around 10 meters (33 feet). The first views of the high-elevation forests of Itombwe upon reaching the edge of intact forest. Image by Mike Harvey. “I’m in the meadow, and inside the cloud forest, I start hearing these wild, snapping sounds and squeals that sounded like wind-up toys,” Harvey says. “Then, out of this pea-soup fog, I see these jet-black shapes, almost blacker than black, starting to emerge in the fog, and I raise my binoculars and that’s when I can see these brilliant, bright, whitish-yellow crests on the birds, the yellow eyes,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/dream-birds-in-the-mist-first-photo-of-lost-bird-in-drc-mountains/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-287629</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The Itombwe owl: Two birds and an identity crisis</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/the-itombwe-owl-two-birds-and-an-identity-crisis/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/the-itombwe-owl-two-birds-and-an-identity-crisis/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Sep 2024 06:17:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawahare]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/09/06073450/1_Butynski-Phodilus-prigoginei-Itombwe-DRC-4-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=286996</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, Congo Basin, and Democratic Republic Of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Birds, Conservation, Endangered Species, Owls, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A lost bird Everything we know for certain about the Itombwe owl comes from just two individuals: one dead for more than 70 years, and the other also most likely dead by now. The second, a small, chestnut-colored owl, was netted by Tom Butynski’s team in 1996; a wild owl can expect to live 10 [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A lost bird Everything we know for certain about the Itombwe owl comes from just two individuals: one dead for more than 70 years, and the other also most likely dead by now. The second, a small, chestnut-colored owl, was netted by Tom Butynski’s team in 1996; a wild owl can expect to live 10 years. Butynski tells Mongabay they held onto the bird for just about an hour, releasing it after measuring, weighing and tagging it. Little did they realize back then the significance of this fleeting encounter: It was the last confirmed sighting of the species to date. Yet experts say they’re hopeful the Itombwe owl (scientific name Tyto prigoginei, but also commonly referred to as Phodilus prigoginei) flies on quietly — beyond researchers’ radar — in the face of possible extinction. Out in the wild, researchers say a few thousand may survive in a tiny pocket of Central Africa. Itombwe Nature Reserve in the Democratic Republic of Congo is the bird’s last known location, and the 1996 expedition was one of the last expansive surveys of the Itombwe massif, a mountainous mosaic of grassland, bamboo vegetation and forests. Butynski’s team also took photos of the owl, which they sent to Michel Louette at the Royal Museum for Central Africa (now AfricaMuseum) in Tervuren, Belgium. Louette, who was in charge of the museum’s bird collection, confirmed it was the Itombwe owl. Photograph of the Itombwe owl captured by Tom Butynski and colleagues in 1996. Image Courtesy of Tom&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/the-itombwe-owl-two-birds-and-an-identity-crisis/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-286996</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Owl conservationist Raju Acharya wins Whitley Award in hat trick for Nepal</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/owl-conservationist-raju-acharya-wins-whitley-award-in-hat-trick-for-nepal/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/owl-conservationist-raju-acharya-wins-whitley-award-in-hat-trick-for-nepal/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 May 2024 01:06:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/05/03010432/Raju_Acharya_2024_Nepal_Whitley_Award_presented_by_HRH_The_Princess_Royal2-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=281662</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Environmental Heroes, Owls, Poaching, Raptors, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — Raju Acharya, a Nepali conservationist, has been named one of the six winners of this year’s prestigious Whitley Awards, also known as the “Green Oscars” for grassroots conservation work, in recognition of his work protecting and campaigning for owls. Acharya, the third Nepali to win the award in as many years, is the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — Raju Acharya, a Nepali conservationist, has been named one of the six winners of this year’s prestigious Whitley Awards, also known as the “Green Oscars” for grassroots conservation work, in recognition of his work protecting and campaigning for owls. Acharya, the third Nepali to win the award in as many years, is the founder and executive director of Friends of Nature, a Kathmandu-based NGO. The resident of Pokhara, a town in western Nepal, has campaigned for the conservation of the birds of prey for more than 15 years, despite facing numerous challenges, such as stereotypes of local people toward the raptors and their conservation. “In my society [the] owl is seen as a lazy and dull creature; when you advocate for their conservation, you are labeled the same way,” Acharya said, addressing the award ceremony. “When I was chosen to represent the World Owl Trust in Nepal, I received ironic congratulations from those around me. Despite the discouragement, I was determined to learn about owls,” said Acharya, also the brains behind the annual Owl Festival, one of the largest conservation events in Nepal. Raju Acharya in the remote field in Accham district, western Nepal. Image © Bikash Ghimire. According to the Whitley Fund for Nature, the U.K. nonprofit that administers the annual award, Acharya will use the prize money of 50,000 pounds ($62,600) to boost initiatives in central Nepal, home to 19 of the country’s 23 owl species. Acharya’s plan is to conduct training to increase the capacity&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/owl-conservationist-raju-acharya-wins-whitley-award-in-hat-trick-for-nepal/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-281662</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Conservationists in Nepal say government must step up in coming years</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/conservationists-in-nepal-say-government-must-step-up-in-coming-years/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/conservationists-in-nepal-say-government-must-step-up-in-coming-years/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Dec 2023 13:36:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/08/24080525/fishing-cats-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=277025</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Birds, Cats, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Environmental Heroes, Governance, Interviews, Interviews with conservation players, Mammals, Owls, Pangolins, Protected Areas, Small Cats, Traditional Knowledge, and Year-end review]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — A rich diversity of life abounds across Nepal, from iconic big cats like the tiger and the snow leopard, to less celebrated creatures like vultures and macaques. And behind many of these species are the scientists, conservationists and activists working tirelessly to better understand and ultimately save them from a litany of threats. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — A rich diversity of life abounds across Nepal, from iconic big cats like the tiger and the snow leopard, to less celebrated creatures like vultures and macaques. And behind many of these species are the scientists, conservationists and activists working tirelessly to better understand and ultimately save them from a litany of threats. Throughout 2023, Mongabay had the privilege of meeting several of these dedicated individuals and bringing their success, setbacks and still-to-dos to a wider audience. As diverse as their species of concern, most nonetheless touched on a common theme: the need for the government to do more to institutionalize and sustain hard-won conservation gains. This includes more efforts to ramp up community-based conservation work, especially in community forests and areas outside protected areas in Nepal, as well as raising greater awareness among community members that conservation isn’t just about earning money from tourism, but also about saving the environment and resources for future generations. The following are some of the highlights from our interviews over the past year. Conservation success lies with governments, not NGOs: Q&amp;A with Hem Sagar Baral In October, prominent Nepali ornithologist Hem Sagar Baral, who had recently stepped down as the country representative of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), shared with Mongabay his experience setting up the organization’s office in Nepal, the challenges and achievements of working with various stakeholders, and the role of NGOs in conservation. He highlighted that NGOs can’t replace the government’s role in conservation, but can only&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/conservationists-in-nepal-say-government-must-step-up-in-coming-years/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/conservationists-in-nepal-say-government-must-step-up-in-coming-years/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-277025</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Owls are valuable only when alive’: Q&#038;A with conservationist Raju Acharya</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/owls-are-valuable-only-when-alive-qa-with-conservationist-raju-acharya/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/owls-are-valuable-only-when-alive-qa-with-conservationist-raju-acharya/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Aug 2023 14:12:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/08/31134426/Raju-Acharya-in-the-remote-field-of-Western-Nepal-Accham-district%C2%A9-Bikash-Ghimire-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=272836</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Conservation Potential]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Conservation leadership, Environment, Interviews, Interviews with conservation players, Owls, Raptors, Research, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — Nepal’s owls are perhaps the least-studied birds in the country, often overlooked by researchers more focused on the rarer vultures and cranes. Yet owls also face the same threats other birds face across the country, from habitat fragmentation and degradation, to electrocution on power lines and poaching. While owls are often perceived as [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — Nepal’s owls are perhaps the least-studied birds in the country, often overlooked by researchers more focused on the rarer vultures and cranes. Yet owls also face the same threats other birds face across the country, from habitat fragmentation and degradation, to electrocution on power lines and poaching. While owls are often perceived as “wise” in other parts of the world, here they’re known as latokosero, or “bird that’s not clever.” None of the owl species found in Nepal are considered threatened under IUCN Red List criteria, which means there’s less motivation for researchers to study them, says owl conservationist Raju Acharya. Acharya has been working in the field for the past decade and a half, cataloging the various species, examining their significance to local communities, and identifying the threats they face. Nepal&#8217;s first owl conservation and research team in 2008. Image © FON Nepal. Mongabay’s Abhaya Raj Joshi caught up with Acharya in Kathmandu recently to learn more about his work and passion for owls. The following interview has been translated from Nepali and edited for clarity. Mongabay: Could you tell us how you got into studying owls? Raju Acharya: I completed my bachelor’s and master&#8217;s degree in Environment Management in the late 1980s. Basically, both my degrees focused on forestry, but the thesis I did for the degrees were on wildlife. When I was working in Mustang district, in the trans-Himalayan region of Nepal, I had the opportunity to go birdwatching with Rinjan Shrestha, a senior conservationist.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/owls-are-valuable-only-when-alive-qa-with-conservationist-raju-acharya/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/owls-are-valuable-only-when-alive-qa-with-conservationist-raju-acharya/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-272836</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Top 15 species discoveries from 2022 (Photos)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/12/top-15-species-discoveries-from-2022-photos/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/12/top-15-species-discoveries-from-2022-photos/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Dec 2022 17:52:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/03/11184718/FISHCirrhilabrus-finifenmaa_4%C2%A9-Yi-Kai-Tea-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=264198</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Amazon, Atlantic Forest, Brazil, Cameroon, Central America, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Global, Guinea, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Japan, Latin America, Madagascar, Maldives, Pacific Ocean, Panama, Peru, South America, Southeast Asia, and Thailand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birding, Botany, Charismatic Animals, Climate Change, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Cryptic Species, Culture, Deforestation, DNA, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Endangered Species Act, Environment, Flowers, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Herps, Insects, Islands, Lizards, Mammals, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, New Discovery, Oceans, Oil Drilling, Owls, Plants, Rainforests, Reptiles, Research, Saving Species From Extinction, Shipping, Snakes, Solutions, Species Discovery, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A resplendent rainbow fish, a frog that looks like chocolate, a Thai tarantula,  an anemone that rides on a back of a hermit crab, and the world&#8217;s largest waterlily are among the new species named by science in 2022. In this well-trodden world, finding a new species is a glimpse of the uncharted riches of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A resplendent rainbow fish, a frog that looks like chocolate, a Thai tarantula,  an anemone that rides on a back of a hermit crab, and the world&#8217;s largest waterlily are among the new species named by science in 2022. In this well-trodden world, finding a new species is a glimpse of the uncharted riches of biodiversity still hidden around the globe. Scientists estimate that only 10% of all the species on the planet have been described. Even among the most well-known group of animals, mammals, scientists think we have only found 80% of species. Most of these hidden species are likely bats, rodents, shrews, moles, and hedgehogs. “Based on our analysis, a conservative estimate would be that there are hundreds of species of mammals worldwide that have yet to be identified,” Bryan Carstens, a professor at The Ohio State University, told Mongabay. This year, researchers at the California Academy of Sciences named 146 new species, including “44 lizards, 30 ants, 14 sea slugs, 14 flowering plants, 13 sea stars, seven fishes, four beetles, four sharks, three moths, three worms, two scorpions, two spiders, two lichens, one toad, one clam, one aphid, and one sea biscuit.” Around 2,000 new species of plants and fungi are found each year, according to Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (RBG Kew). These are potential sources of food, medicines, and other solutions. Unfortunately, many new species of plants, fungi, and animals are assessed as Vulnerable or Critically Endangered with extinction. “There is something immensely unethical and troubling&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/12/top-15-species-discoveries-from-2022-photos/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/12/top-15-species-discoveries-from-2022-photos/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-264198</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Top 15 species discoveries from 2021 (Photos)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/top-15-species-discoveries-from-2021-photos/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/top-15-species-discoveries-from-2021-photos/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Dec 2021 18:29:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/12/21182636/Screen-Shot-2021-12-21-at-12.26.13-PM-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=250851</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Amazon, Atlantic Forest, Brazil, Ecuador, Global, Guiana Shield, India, Latin America, South America, Venezuela, West Africa, and Western Ghats]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Ants, Bats, Biodiversity, Birding, Botany, Carnivores, Cetaceans, Charismatic Animals, Climate Change, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Cryptic Species, Culture, Deforestation, DNA, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Endangered Species Act, Environment, Flowers, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Herps, Insects, Islands, Lizards, Mammals, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Mammals, New Discovery, Oceans, Oil Drilling, Orchids, Owls, Plants, Plastic, Rainforests, Reptiles, Research, Saving Species From Extinction, Shipping, Snakes, Solutions, Species Discovery, Tropical Forests, Whales, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[With humans sending probes to Mars and the sun, one might think we’ve already explored the full extent of our own planet. But scientists say we’ve only begun to find and describe the riches here on Earth. “I think most people believe that we know most species on Earth … but in the best-case scenario, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[With humans sending probes to Mars and the sun, one might think we’ve already explored the full extent of our own planet. But scientists say we’ve only begun to find and describe the riches here on Earth. “I think most people believe that we know most species on Earth … but in the best-case scenario, we know 20% of Earth’s species,” Mario Moura, a professor at the Federal University of Paraíba in Brazil, told Mongabay in a March 2021 interview.  Moura is the co-creator of a study that maps out places in the world likely to hold the highest number of species unknown to science. As it turns out, there are a lot. This year, Mongabay reported on newly described species from nearly every continent, including a fuzzy orange bat from West Africa, tiny screech owls from Brazil, an acrobatic North American skunk, a snake from the Himalayas (found on Instagram), a new whale species in the Gulf of Mexico, an Ecuadoran ant whose name broke the gender binary, and an Australian “killer tobacco.” Map showing the portion of undiscovered species worldwide. Image by Mario R. Moura. (Moura and Jetz 2021) “Every year, as scientists explore the world’s ecosystems, search herbaria and fungaria, sequence organisms’ DNA and, increasingly, browse social media, they come across species of plants and fungi that have not been scientifically described,” says the “State of the World’s Plants and Fungi 2020” report, released by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. However, though a species may be new&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/top-15-species-discoveries-from-2021-photos/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/top-15-species-discoveries-from-2021-photos/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-250851</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>An owl not seen in over a century makes a brief return — then vanishes again</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/05/an-owl-not-seen-in-over-a-century-makes-a-brief-return-then-vanishes-again/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/05/an-owl-not-seen-in-over-a-century-makes-a-brief-return-then-vanishes-again/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 May 2021 22:53:28 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Romi Castagnino]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Romi Castagnino]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/05/13000233/bornean-rajah-scops-ow_banner-768x456.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=242594</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Borneo, Malaysia, Sabah, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Climate Change, Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Monitoring, Montane Forests, Owls, Protected Areas, Rediscovered Species, Research, Surveying, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Bornean subspecies of the Rajah scops-owl (Otus brookii) was first described from the montane forests of the Malaysian state of Sabah in 1892. Since then, however, its whereabouts have been a mystery. It was not until 2016 that a group of researchers documented the first sighting of a live individual in more than a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Bornean subspecies of the Rajah scops-owl (Otus brookii) was first described from the montane forests of the Malaysian state of Sabah in 1892. Since then, however, its whereabouts have been a mystery. It was not until 2016 that a group of researchers documented the first sighting of a live individual in more than a century, and due to its rarity, scientists believe it could be its own species. The findings were reported April 28 in The Wilson Journal of Ornithology. That May 4, 2016, rediscovery of the Bornean Rajah scops-owl (O. b. brookii) was part of a 10-year study of avian life-history evolution on Mount Kinabalu in Borneo. The project, led by Thomas E. Martin, a wildlife biologist with the Montana Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit at the University of Montana, required intensively searching for nests and gathering ecological information about birds. After seven years of working up to 10 hours per day, six days a week, the team accidentally came across O. b. brookii. The rediscovery of O. b. brookii took place in the montane forests of Mount Kinabalu at an elevation of 1,650 meters (5,400 feet). Image by Oscark via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0). Andy Boyce, an avian ecologist at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute’s (SCBI) Conservation Ecology Center, happened to be working at a lab in Kinabalu National Park when he was notified by technician Keegan Tranquillo about the sighting of a bird that differed in appearance from the more common mountain scops-owl (O. spilocephalus luciae).&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/05/an-owl-not-seen-in-over-a-century-makes-a-brief-return-then-vanishes-again/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-242594</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Two new species of endangered screech owls identified from Brazil</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/two-new-species-of-endangered-screech-owls-identified-from-brazil/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/two-new-species-of-endangered-screech-owls-identified-from-brazil/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Apr 2021 16:28:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/04/01161816/Screen-Shot-2021-04-01-at-11.17.39-AM-768x456.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=241236</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Atlantic Forest, and Brazil]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birding, Conservation, Cryptic Species, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Green, New Discovery, Owls, Species Discovery, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Two new species of tiny screech owls from the Amazon and Atlantic rainforests in Brazil have been described by science. &#8220;They&#8217;re cute little owls, probably five or six inches long [13-15 centimeters], with tufts of feathers on their heads,” said John Bates, curator of birds at the Field Museum in Chicago and one of the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Two new species of tiny screech owls from the Amazon and Atlantic rainforests in Brazil have been described by science. &#8220;They&#8217;re cute little owls, probably five or six inches long [13-15 centimeters], with tufts of feathers on their heads,” said John Bates, curator of birds at the Field Museum in Chicago and one of the researchers who described the new species in the journal Zootaxa. “Some are brown, some are gray, and some are in between.&#8221; The newly described Alagoas screech owl (Megascops alagoensis) from Brazil’s Atlantic forest is thought to be critically endangered. Image by Gustavo Malacco. The discovery was the result of several years of work in forests, natural history collections, and the laboratory, analyzing the black-capped/tawny-bellied screech owl complex (Megascops atricapilla – M. watsonii), a group of owls with an uncertain number of species. Altogether, the researchers analyzed 252 owl specimens, 83 tape recordings of calls, and 49 genetic samples. &#8220;To draw the birds out, we used tape recordings,&#8221; Bates said. &#8220;We&#8217;d record their calls and then play them back. The owls are territorial, and when they heard the recordings, they came out to defend their territory.&#8221; By closely examining the appearance, calls and DNA of the screech owls, the scientists determined that there were enough differences to classify two new species. One of the newly described species, the Xingu screech owl (Megascops stangiae)  was named in honor of the late activist Sister Dorothy Mae Stang. Image by Kleiton Silva. The new screech owls have been named&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/two-new-species-of-endangered-screech-owls-identified-from-brazil/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-241236</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Traversing Russia’s remote taiga in pursuit of the Blakiston’s fish owl</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/08/traversing-russias-remote-taiga-in-pursuit-of-the-blakistons-fish-owl/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/08/traversing-russias-remote-taiga-in-pursuit-of-the-blakistons-fish-owl/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Aug 2020 10:43:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gloria Dickie]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/08/05170322/BANNER-IMAGE-FO-768x447.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=233462</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia and Russia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Deforestation, Ecology, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Extreme Weather, Fish, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Hunting, Logging, Mass Extinction, Mining, Over-hunting, Owls, Poaching, Research, Weather, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Meet biologist Jonathan Slaght as he spends years tracking a giant bird “the size of a fire hydrant with a six-foot wingspan.” Slaght’s new book, Owls of the Eastern Ice, offers engaging tales from the field.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When one imagines Russia’s snow-covered taiga, a Siberian tiger is the creature that may most often pad silently through the conifer forests of the mind. But Jonathan Slaght wants us to envision a different creature, a giant bird sweeping through the night skies of this remote wilderness in his new book Owls of the Eastern Ice (Farrar, Straus &amp; Giroux, 2020). Blakiston’s Fish Owl, named after the English naturalist Thomas Blakiston, is the world’s largest owl, weighing up to a hefty 10 pounds. It ranges from the eastern woodlands of Hokkaido, Japan, to the Primorye territory in the south of Russia’s Far East where between 200 and 400 fish owls are thought to dwell. It was here that Slaght first encountered the species as a young wildlife biologist. Twenty years ago, while on a hike in the Primorye forest, Slaght and a friend unexpectedly flushed an enormous bird from its hiding place. The creature took to the air, hooting its displeasure. At first, Slaght was unsure what kind of bird was flapping away from him. “It was clearly an owl, but bigger than any I’d seen,” he writes. The beguiling bird was the size of an eagle, a little fluffier and portlier, with huge ear tufts. It seemed “almost too comical to a real bird.” The creature crashed through the trees and disappeared out of sight. When he returned home, Slaght scanned an old field guide but didn’t think “the floppy goblin” matched any animal contained within. Fortunately, he had&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/08/traversing-russias-remote-taiga-in-pursuit-of-the-blakistons-fish-owl/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-233462</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Photos: night owls</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/10/photos-night-owls/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/10/photos-night-owls/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Oct 2017 14:33:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David OehlerJulie Larsen Maher]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/10/13132424/Julie-Larsen-Maher_5452_Barn-Owl-Natures-Air-Show_BZ_08-26-09-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=199978</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Birds, Environment, Green, Owls, Photos, Raptors, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Are there any sounds that terrify you? From deep within the dark forests, the hoots and cries of owls during the night have triggered foreboding in people throughout history. These primal fears turned into superstitions, and owls became associated with the likes of witches, sorcerers, and ghosts. Even today, these fantastic creatures and their caterwauling resonate [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Are there any sounds that terrify you? Spectacled Owl. Julie Larsen Maher / WCS From deep within the dark forests, the hoots and cries of owls during the night have triggered foreboding in people throughout history. These primal fears turned into superstitions, and owls became associated with the likes of witches, sorcerers, and ghosts. Even today, these fantastic creatures and their caterwauling resonate in modern culture throughout the soundtracks of horror movies, and their familiar silhouettes are infused in our seasonal Halloween decorations. Fear not! The magical calls of owls are welcome melodies that we should be enjoyed and celebrated. Owls are an intricate part of our environment. They dine on a wide variety of rodents, other small mammals, and insects that could soon be out of control if their predators were not present. Over the normal lifespan of a barn owl, this efficient hunter can eat over 11,000 mice. Screech owls consume large numbers of insects as well as small rodents. Farmers know the value of these birds of prey and encourage owls to take up residence on their farms reducing the need to use other harmful forms of pest control. Snowy Owl. Julie Larsen Maher / WCS Many owl species are in decline due to habitat loss. Embrace the sights and sounds of owls by making them a home in your neighborhood. Install owl nest boxes in your trees on your property. Set up the boxes before the spring season, and enjoy the haunting sounds of owls throughout the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/10/photos-night-owls/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-199978</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Harry Potter may have sparked illegal owl trade in Indonesia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/07/harry-potter-may-have-sparked-illegal-owl-trade-in-indonesia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/07/harry-potter-may-have-sparked-illegal-owl-trade-in-indonesia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Jul 2017 03:09:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/07/03025215/AWalmsley-LFP-Markets-Jakarta-full-047-copy-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=197025</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Environment, Illegal Trade, Owls, Pet Trade, Raptors, Research, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Harry Potter books and movies seem to have fueled a dramatic rise in the number of owls being traded as pets in Indonesia, a new study concludes. In the past, conservationists have suggested that the popularity of the fictional mail-delivering owls in the Harry Potter books may have caused an uptick in the illegal [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Harry Potter books and movies seem to have fueled a dramatic rise in the number of owls being traded as pets in Indonesia, a new study concludes. In the past, conservationists have suggested that the popularity of the fictional mail-delivering owls in the Harry Potter books may have caused an uptick in the illegal trade in owls in countries like India. Now, scientists believe that the &#8220;Harry Potter effect&#8221; may have done the same in Indonesia. Birds have always been popular pets in Indonesia. But owls were rarely recorded in the country&#8217;s bird markets in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s, Vincent Nijman and Anna Nekaris of Oxford Brookes University report in the study published in Global Ecology and Conservation. This trend appears to have changed in the late 2000s. Figure shows the percentage of owls as the total number of wild birds in the bird markets in Indonesia between 1987 and 2016. The Harry Potter books were published between 1997 and 2007. Sample sizes at the top are the total number of wild birds recorded in the markets in these three periods. Figure by Nijman and Nekaris 2017. Scops owl is the most commonly traded owl in Indonesia&#8217;s bird markets. Photo by Seshadri KS (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0). Surveys of 20 bird markets in Java and Bali conducted between 2012 and 2016 revealed that owls are now widely traded. At least 12,000 Scops owls (Otus spp.) are being sold in Indonesia&#8217;s bird markets each year, the researchers estimated,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/07/harry-potter-may-have-sparked-illegal-owl-trade-in-indonesia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-197025</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The biologist terrifying the US Forest Service and the timber and forest fire-fighting industries</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/08/the-biologist-terrifying-the-us-forest-service-and-the-timber-and-forest-fire-fighting-industries/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/08/the-biologist-terrifying-the-us-forest-service-and-the-timber-and-forest-fire-fighting-industries/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Aug 2016 18:42:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Derek E. Lee]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/08/01192246/Northern_Spotted_Owl.USFWS_cropped-499x330.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=188942</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[North America and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Birds, Commentary, Environment, Environmental Policy, Fires, Forests, Logging, Owls, Raptors, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Monica Bond is a wildlife biologist who has spent the past 15 years becoming an expert on spotted owls and forest fires. Earlier this month, she published a paper summarizing all existing science about what happens to spotted owls when forests burn, in the hope of averting a major US forest management policy mistake. The [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Monica Bond is a wildlife biologist who has spent the past 15 years becoming an expert on spotted owls and forest fires. Earlier this month, she published a paper summarizing all existing science about what happens to spotted owls when forests burn, in the hope of averting a major US forest management policy mistake. The U.S. Forest Service, which manages 11 million acres of public forest land in California&#8217;s Sierra Nevada, is publishing a new California spotted owl conservation strategy and also revising its forest management plans for Sierra Nevada national forests. These documents will influence how all National Forests are managed for the coming decades, and they are dangerously misguided about wildfire. Bond was trained by Dr. Rocky Gutiérrez, the godfather of California spotted owl research, and she wrote her first scientific article about forest fire effects on spotted owls with Dr. Gutiérrez in 2002. “Everyone expected fire to be bad for owls, but the data showed no effect on survival, reproduction, or site occupancy,” Bond said in a phone interview. “Our data showed fire wasn’t the owl-eating monster we had all believed it to be.” But that first success didn’t satisfy Bond’s tenacious drive to learn every detail about owls and fire. She started her own independent research organization, the Wild Nature Institute, and spent the next decade and a half investigating every aspect of forest fire and spotted owl ecology. She published eight more peer-reviewed scientific papers, several popular magazine articles, and built up a network of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/08/the-biologist-terrifying-the-us-forest-service-and-the-timber-and-forest-fire-fighting-industries/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-188942</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New survey finds surprisingly large population of endangered owl</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/12/new-survey-finds-surprisingly-large-population-of-endangered-owl/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/12/new-survey-finds-surprisingly-large-population-of-endangered-owl/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Dec 2014 18:53:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2014/12/new-survey-finds-surprisingly-large-population-of-endangered-owl/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Comoros, and Indian Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agroforestry, Animals, Bats, Birds, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Ecosystem Services, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Green, Habitat Loss, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Islands, Mammals, Owls, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Traditional People, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Despite vast forest loss, the Anjouan scops owl is holding on in the Comoros Islands The Anjouan scops owl. Photo by: Alan Van Norman. The Anjouan scops owl&#8212;an elusive owl found only on its tiny eponymous island&#8212;was once considered among the world&#8217;s most endangered owls, and even the most threatened birds. However, the first in-depth [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Despite vast forest loss, the Anjouan scops owl is holding on in the Comoros Islands The Anjouan scops owl. Photo by: Alan Van Norman. The Anjouan scops owl&#8212;an elusive owl found only on its tiny eponymous island&#8212;was once considered among the world&#8217;s most endangered owls, and even the most threatened birds. However, the first in-depth survey of the owls on the island finds that, in fact, the population is far larger than initially estimated. In a new paper in Bird Conservation International, scientists estimate that 3,500-5,500 owls survive today as opposed to an earlier estimate of just 200-400 birds. &#8220;Our work doesn&#8217;t actually show that the owl is doing better than expected or that its status has improved, just that our knowledge of its status has improved,&#8221; said Hugh Doulton the technical director for the local conservation organization Dahari and co-author of the research. &#8220;This shows the danger of basing conservation assessments on rough and ready surveys, and perhaps a tendency to paint crisis situations for species without enough data to back up these assessments.&#8221; The invisible owl Still, the owl remains incredibly elusive. Although Doulton has lived and worked on Anjouan&#8212;a small island in the Comoros&#8212;for the past seven years, he&#8217;s never actually had had the pleasure of viewing the native owl. &#8220;I go camping at the weekends from time to time and hear the owls whistling to each other, but, sadly, I&#8217;ve never seen one,&#8221; he told monagaby.com. Dahari ecological technician, Ishaka, looking for owls at dusk. Photo&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2014/12/new-survey-finds-surprisingly-large-population-of-endangered-owl/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-24378</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Chile turns to owls to combat fatal disease</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/04/chile-turns-to-owls-to-combat-fatal-disease/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/04/chile-turns-to-owls-to-combat-fatal-disease/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Apr 2014 16:40:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Franziska Green]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2014/04/chile-turns-to-owls-to-combat-fatal-disease/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Chile, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Birds, Diseases, Ecology, Ecosystem Services, Environment, Green, Owls, Rodents, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A brood of barn owls. Photo by: chdwckvnstrsslhmn/Creative Commons 2.0. This year the Hanta virus has already caused 15 deaths in Chile, according to reports in The Santiago Times. It isn&#8217;t always fatal&#8212;the 15 deaths were of a total of 36 cases over six months&#8212;but the symptoms are severe. Those affected experience flu-like symptoms, as [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A brood of barn owls. Photo by: chdwckvnstrsslhmn/Creative Commons 2.0. This year the Hanta virus has already caused 15 deaths in Chile, according to reports in The Santiago Times. It isn&#8217;t always fatal&#8212;the 15 deaths were of a total of 36 cases over six months&#8212;but the symptoms are severe. Those affected experience flu-like symptoms, as well as nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and trouble breathing. As is the case with many viruses, those most at risk of death are infants, the elderly, and anyone with compromised immune systems. But now Chile is using a novel method to fight the disease: owls. The Hanta virus spreads via rodents&#8217; feces to humans. High-risk places include warehouses, sheds or rarely-used weekend homes that are left untouched for long periods, any building where rodents might enter and defecate. When a person enters the closed space, they may inhale the dust that contains tiny particles of the feces and with it, the virus. The virus expires when it is exposed to sunlight, so officials recommend opening the door to any enclosed space to let in air and entering only after an hour or so to open windows. More people have been hit by the virus this year in Chile than before and experts believe it could be due to the many fires that have raged in almost all sectors of Chile. Officials are concerned that the fires pushed rodents, and the viruses they carry, into more densely populated areas, increasing the risk of exposure for the general&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2014/04/chile-turns-to-owls-to-combat-fatal-disease/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-25453</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>World&#8217;s biggest owl depends on large old trees</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/09/worlds-biggest-owl-depends-on-large-old-trees/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/09/worlds-biggest-owl-depends-on-large-old-trees/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Sep 2013 16:33:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Natalie Millar]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Tiffany Roufs]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2013/09/worlds-biggest-owl-depends-on-large-old-trees/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, East Asia, and Russia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Birds, Conservation, Ecology, Endangered Species, Environment, Green, In-situ Conservation, Logging, Old Growth Forests, Owls, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, Trees, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Blakiston fish owl (Bubo Blakistoni) is the world’s largest – and one of the rarest – owl species, with an impressive 6 foot (2 meter) wingspan. The giant owl, found exclusively in northeast Asia, shares its habitat with a menagerie of endangered and impressive animals, including Amur tigers, Amur leopards, Asiatic black bears and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Blakiston fish owl (Bubo Blakistoni) is the world’s largest – and one of the rarest – owl species, with an impressive 6 foot (2 meter) wingspan. The giant owl, found exclusively in northeast Asia, shares its habitat with a menagerie of endangered and impressive animals, including Amur tigers, Amur leopards, Asiatic black bears and wild boars. Now, a recent study in Oryx, led by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has discovered that these owls rely on threatened old trees for nesting and foraging sites. In Primorye, Russia, a research team headed by Jonathan Slaght with the WCS and the University of Minnesota, looked at 20,213 square kilometers of forest and found that owl nesting sites are usually within old, large trees – such as Japanese poplars, chosenia and cork bark elms. The nesting sites are all located along streams – which are also the habitat for the owl&#8217;s primary food source, salmon. This means Blakiston&#8217;s fish owl is entirely dependent on riparian forests, which refers to the banks along a water source or the interface between water and land. A Blakiston’s fish owl in Primorye, Russia. Photograph © Jonathan Slaght, WCS Russia The nesting trees have to be large enough to accommodate the huge size of these owls, with the diameters at breast height ranging between 74 centimeters to 150 centimeters. The size of the tree is an important factor in determining a nest site, but the owls also seem to favor trees that show some signs of deterioration&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2013/09/worlds-biggest-owl-depends-on-large-old-trees/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-26446</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Snowy tigers and giant owls: conservation against the odds in Russia&#8217;s Far East</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/05/snowy-tigers-and-giant-owls-conservation-against-the-odds-in-russias-far-east/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/05/snowy-tigers-and-giant-owls-conservation-against-the-odds-in-russias-far-east/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 May 2013 16:45:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2013/05/snowy-tigers-and-giant-owls-conservation-against-the-odds-in-russias-far-east/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, East Asia, and Russia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Big Cats, Birds, boreal forests, Cats, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Green, Hunting, In-situ Conservation, Interviews, Leopards, Logging, Mammals, Owls, Poaching, Predators, Roads, Science, Temperate Forests, Tigers, Top Predators, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The 2013 Zoos and Aquariums: Committing to Conservation (ZACC) conference runs from July 8th &#8211; July 12th in Des Moines, Iowa, hosted by the Blank Park Zoo. Ahead of the event, Mongabay.com is running a series of Q&#38;As with presenters. For more interviews, please see our ZACC feed. An Amur tiger in the Sikhote-Alin Mountains, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The 2013 Zoos and Aquariums: Committing to Conservation (ZACC) conference runs from July 8th &#8211; July 12th in Des Moines, Iowa, hosted by the Blank Park Zoo. Ahead of the event, Mongabay.com is running a series of Q&amp;As with presenters. For more interviews, please see our ZACC feed. An Amur tiger in the Sikhote-Alin Mountains, Primorye, Russia. Photograph (c) Wildlife Conservation Society Russia Program. The Russian Far East is one of the wildest places on Earth: where giant tigers roam snow-covered forests and the world&#8217;s biggest owls stalk frozen rivers. Bordering northern China and North Korea, the forests of Primorye are known for the diversity of habitats, including coastal forests along the Sea of Japan, vast coniferous forests in the Sikhote-Alin mountains, and even steppe. These diverse ecosystems also makes the forests a hotspot for endangered species, including Amur tigers (Panthera tigris altaica), Blakiston&#8217;s fish owls (Bubo blakistoni), and one of the world&#8217;s rarest big cats, Amur leopards (Panthera pardus orientalis), which number only 30-50 animals. Though remote and still wild, threats are rising in these forests: poachers are killing a record number of tigers, logging roads are allowing access to remote areas, prey numbers are constantly threatened by over-hunting, and unsustainable logging practices and bushfires imperil whole forests. Still, the wildlife of Primorye has champions. Jonathan Slaght first came to the region in 1995 and then returned with the Peace Corps for three years. He was quickly captivated&#8212;not by the big cats, but by the birds: most particularly Blakiston&#8217;s&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2013/05/snowy-tigers-and-giant-owls-conservation-against-the-odds-in-russias-far-east/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-28948</doi>				</item>
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