Barn Owl at the southeastern Azerbaijan. - P.V. Kvartalnov, N.D. Poyarkov , A.B. Popovkina, M.N. Dementyev. - Berkut. 20 (1-2). 2011. - P. 111-114.
The Barn Owl is a rare breeding species of Azerbaijan. The documented records of the species are known from the Shirvan National Park (40° 06′ N, 47° 19′ E; first registration in 2006, breeding record in 2007) and Kyzyl-Agach Nature Reserve (first registration in 2005, breeding record in 2010). In 2007–2011, a pair of Barn Owls was encountered every winter in the ruins of abandoned house at the Caspian coast on the territory of Kyzyl-Agach Nature Reserve (38° 59′ N, 48° 56′ E); wintering birds were found also in Narimanabad-2 village (38° 57′ N, 48° 55′ E). Four dead adults were collected in 2008 and 2009. According to the local people, barn owls also breed on the Kurinskaya Spit (38° 58′ N, 49° 08′ E). In January 2011, three Barn Owl eggs with dead embryos were found inside the empty water tank in Kyzyl-Agach Nature Reserve. The owl pellets contained the remains of shrews (Crocidura gueldenstaedtii), mice (Mus musculus) and bats (Pipistrellus kuhlii, Pipistrellus spp.). Taking into account recent breeding records of the species reported from northern Iran, Cis-Caucasia and Crimea, the expansion of the range of the Barn Owl could be assumed. [Russian].
Key words: Barn Owl, Tyto alba, distribution, range expansion, breeding, feeding.
Address: P.V. Kvartalnov, dep. of vertebrate zoology, biological faculty, Lomonosov Moscow University, Leninskiye gory, 119991, Moscow, Russia; e-mail: cettia@mail.ru.