As you will know most of you, the population of Barn Owl (Tyto alba) has suffered a serious declive in a large part of its Spanish distribution area, Community of Madrid included. The agricultural practices carried out in the last decades are behind this sharp decline.

Thanks to a grant awarded by the Ministry of Environment, Local Administration and Territorial Planning, this year we will continue working along the farmers of Madrid to promote more agriculture sustainable and respectful with the fauna. Among the actions that will be carried out, figure besides the realization of a census of Barn Owl in Madrid.

Before going out to prospect, we wanted to know where to look. For this, and with your help, let’s gather as many quotations as possible about the presence of this species in the last 10 years.

If you are willing to collaborate, send us your appointments to proyectoalba@brinzal.org with the following information:

-Date of sighting or listening
-Place (name of the place and the municipality or coordinates)
-Type of appointment (sight, hearing, dead, nest, etc.)
-Any interesting additional data
-Observer data (email adress or phone number)

We thank you very much both for sending appointments and for sending this collaboration request to so many groups, forums or places that thoughts are useful.

Photo by Javier Alonso Huerta