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Long-term population decline of the little owl has been recorded in Western Europe and available evidence also suggests severe range restriction in many Central European regions. Using two nationwide volunteer-based monitoring programmes during the years 2009-2016, we investigated distribution, population density and breeding associations of the little owl in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Across the two countries combined, the average population density of the little owl was 0.19 calling males/10 km². However, the population density was markedly higher in Slovakia (0.36 calling males/10 km²) than in the Czech Republic (0.09 calling males/10 km²). The overall breeding population of the little owl was estimated at 130 breeding pairs in the Czech Republic and 550 in Slovakia. Compared to the situation two decades ago, those estimates represented a 87-94 % decline in the breeding population in the Czech Republic and a 31-45 % reduction in Slovakia. Our data also revealed marked distributional range contraction of the little owl, indicating rapid local extinctions over the last two decades. The analysis of expected breeding places of the little owl confirmed a strong preference for man-made objects over the original breeding sites in tree cavities. In the light of our present results, we propose urgent preparation and implementation of a species action plan with conservation measures to halt the little owl's steep decline in Central Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The population of Little Owls in Denmark is close to extinction. The main cause is food limitation during the breeding season. Efforts to improve breeding success include providing breeding pairs with supplementary food and attempts to improve foraging habitats by creating short grass areas near the nests. In addition to increasing the reproductive output, feeding and habitatmanagementmay cause parents towork less hard improving their future reproductive value. We studied working efforts of five radio-tagged Little Owl pairs in years of absence and presence of food provisioning, and/or access to short sward vegetation areas near to the nest.We quantifiedmovement as theminimumflight distance hour-1 (MFD), using themean distance from the nest (DN) as a supplementary index. Under unmanipulated conditions, males had higherMFD and DN than females. If provided with food and/or areas with short sward vegetation, males but not females reduced their MFD and DN significantly. If MFD was adjusted for DN (the two measures correlated positively), both sexes reduced their DN-adjusted MFD as response to food provisioning but not to habitat provisioning. Food provisioning therefore had similar proximate effects on the foraging effort ofmales and females, whereas provisioning of short sward habitats had an indirect effect onmale but not female MFD, because of decreased commuting distances between nest and foraging sites. The results indicate that food provisioning not only leads to increased reproductive output in an endangered raptor, but also to decreased working effort, which in turn may improve adult survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]