Resultats del cens i anàlisi de l'hàbitat de l'última població de mussol comú (Athene noctua) del Lluçanès (Catalunya central)

Abstract

Little Owl population is decreasing in Catalonia since last twenty years. In Central Catalonia, there is only one relative great Little Owl population, in Vic Plain, with more than hundred breeding pairs. Near the little town of Prats de Lluçanès, about twenty kilometres from Vic, there is a little population of Owls remaining from the last fifty years period of continuously decreasing. In this paper we expose the results of a standardized census, and the habitat analysis of the places that we?ve found the owls. The census results have shown the very little population of 6-7 breeding pairs that still liv there, in the most agricultural habitats. This population of Little Owls has chosen the more agricultural and urban land, leaving the forest and the semi-forested areas, mainly to avoid Tawny Owl pressure. The statistics show us the significatively choose of the more open, agricultural and urban areas for live and breed.