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202401/09
Exciting news on Australasian grass-owl conservation! At the end of 2021, four Australasian grass-owl fledglings were found in the pasture area of the Taiwan Livestock Research Institute, Ministry of Agriculture, in Xinhua District, Tainan City. The Chiayi Branch of the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency (FANCA) pioneered the use of protective fencing to protect the nesting site, which led to the young birds safely growing up and successfully leaving the nest. Two years later, one of the fledglings, the Australasian grass-owl with ring number 218, returned to the Taiwan Livestock Research Institute to mate and nest. With the collaboration of the Chiayi Branch, the Taiwan Livestock Research Institute, and the Tainan Wildlife Conservation Group, protective fencing was again set up around the nesting site. The four fledglings have now successfully left their nests. The protective fencing strategy has clearly proven beneficial for two generations of Australasian grass-owls!
Public-Private Collaboration Creates Grassland Habitat for Australasian Grass-Owls to Successfully Rear Young
The Australasian grass-owl is an endangered protected species, with an estimated population of only about 500 individuals in Taiwan. They are mainly found in the hills and plains of Southern Taiwan, and out of the 12 different species of owls found in Taiwan, this is the only one that constructs its nest on the ground among the grass. Therefore, the conservation of grassland habitats is vital to the conservation of the Australasian grass-owl. However, it is not easy to preserve grassland habitats, as they may be gradually replaced by trees and turned into forests, or cultivated by people, making grasslands a relatively unstable type of habitat. This is the reason that the large-scale pasture planted in the Taiwan Livestock Research Institute has become a stable habitat for Australasian grass-owls. According to the Chiayi Branch of the FANCA, during the three years since the funding of the Tainan Wildlife Conservation Group to carry out monitoring from 2021, a consensus on Australasian grass-owl conservation has been formed through meetings with relevant units and communication with the front-line lawn mowing personnel. The success achieved by the fencing to protect fledglings until they left the nest was due to the fact that the staff of the Taiwan Livestock Research Institute were able to promptly stop work when mowing the lawn and to notify relevant personnel as soon as they discovered the Australasian grass-owls. This allowed the Chiayi Branch to mobilize manpower and resources to complete the installation of fencing without any delay. Under the tracking and monitoring of the researchers, the four young Australasian grass-owls have all been confirmed to have successfully left the nest, injecting new blood into the Australasian grass-owl population in Taiwan.
Amazing Coincidence: Fence Protection Creates Intergenerational Benefits
The Chiayi Branch further explained that the most surprising thing during the monitoring process was to see a familiar figure. The sharp-eyed researchers from the Tainan Wildlife Conservation Group noticed that one of the parents had a leg ring. To everyone’s surprise, it was the same former baby Australasian grass-owl No. 218, which successfully left the nest at the end of the 2021 when fencing was first used to protect the fledglings. The situation back then was exactly the same as this time—the four Australasian grass-owl fledglings were discovered during the mowing of the lawn. Thanks to the protection of the fencing, now the four young Australasian grass-owls have successfully left the nest. This situation is very promising. After two years of maturing in the outside world, the former fledglings have become mothers by the time they returned to the Taiwan Livestock Research Institute. This current batch of young Australasian grass-owls will also go out to explore, mate, and breed. The Chiayi Branch looks forward to maintaining the cross-departmental cooperation through the Taiwan Ecological Network, hoping to preserve and create more suitable grassland environments, so that Australasian grass-owls can fly freely in the hills and plains of Southwestern Taiwan for generations to come.