Range extension of the Barn Owl Tyto alba in Iran – A. Osaei et al.
Range Extension of the Barn Owl Tyto alba in Iran
ABBAS OSAEI 1, ABOLGHASEM KHALEGHIZADEH 2* & MOHAMMAD E. SEHHATISABET 3 1, Khan-e Sabz Co., Tehran, Iran 2. Ornithology Lab., Agric. Zool. Res. Dep., Iranian Research Institute of Plant Protection, Tehran, Iran 3. Kerman Provincial Office of the Department of the Environment (DOE), Kerman, Iran * Correspondence Author. Email: [email protected]
Received 27 August 2007; accepted 31 January 2008
Abstract: This paper summarizes the distribution of the Barn Owl in Iran since 1990. Approximately 74 birds have been recorded from 28 localities since 1990, whereas there were only three records of the species in Iran in the 1970s (from two localities in Khuzestan Province and one locality in Bushehr Province). It is concluded that there has been a major expansion in the range of the species in Iran in recent decades. This paper also documents the discovery of a pair of Barn Owls nesting at Kapour-Chal, near Anzali, Gilan Province, in northern Iran in the summer of 2007.
Keywords: Barn Owl, Tyto alba , distribution, range extension, conservation, Iran.