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Long Eared Owl Research Paper

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Long Eared Owl
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Elleyna Heims Can you imagine a world without any animals? Would plants overpopulate? How would we survive? Well, scientists estimate that about 150 to 200 species of plants, animals, birds, and fish become extinct every day. They say that species are disappearing at an alarming rate. Long-eared Owls are becoming even more threatened every day and everyday more habitats are lost. We need to help them gain their populations back again. Long-eared Owls are slender, medium sized owls that are no bigger than the Great Horned Owl, but are no smaller than the Western Screech Owl. The males weight a surprisingly small weight of about 8.6 ounces while the females weigh about 9.9 ounces. Their life expectancy is about 25 …show more content…

They are very secretive birds. They rarely hunt before dark. When they hunt they make silent, low passes over and open place and then they snatch their prey. They eat small rodents like mice, voles, and rats. They occasionally eat young rabbits and small birds and snakes. Roosting, or resting for sleep, is usually done in the thick parts of the trees where they can camouflage and hide. Communities of owls often roost together in the winter. Long-eared Owls can make a wide variety of hoots, squeaks, and barks. They can even clap their wings! Long-eared Owls require a combination of grassland and other open country for hunting and dense tall shrubs or thick trees for nesting and roosting. Their favorite winter habitats are pine and fir …show more content…

They are losing grasslands and woodlands to hunt for prey and dense, suitable trees to nest and roost. Habitat loss is caused by land development, forest thinning, and conversion of softwood forests to hardwood forests. Another decrease in population is because of predation, or the preying of one animal on another. After increases in grasslands in Iowa no population increases were reported. Long-eared Owls nest in the dense part of trees or in abandoned nests of crows or magpies so often, people destroy their nests without knowing. The last reason for decrease in population is the conservation groups often overlook Long-eared Owls. Iowa is increasing their grasslands and woodlands to help the Long-eared Owl get off of the threatened list. Also, people are setting weaved baskets for the Long-eared Owls to nest and roost. You may ask, what can we do to help? Well, I have some answers. First, we can stop hunting them especially because that is illegal. Second, we could make nests and give them places to nest. Third, if you see one on the road don’t run it over, stop and wait for it to cross. Lastly, it’s always a good idea to not cut down forests and plant some

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