Owls fly low and slow. They have evolved that way over millions of years and it serves them well for hunting. Their adaptations for silent flight not only offer them stealth, they also allow them to use their exceptional hearing in mid-flight, either by hovering over a sound made by a prey unseen or cruising slowly over meadows to detect the rustling of prey. These fine-tuned adaptations have worked for millions of years… and then came roads and the motor vehicle. Roads dissect habitat and owls must often cross them. Owls may be attracted to roadsides as the ditches and grassy verges provide good hunting opportunities in certain contexts. Automobiles travel faster and are more ubiquitous than anything the owls have had to contend with over their millions of years of evolution. The results can be quite devastating. Our species desperately needs to learn to slow down for life!
If you
are interested in this topic, there are studies trying to determine roadkill
hotspots (in order to devise prevention strategies) such as:
If you
would like to participate, there are several iNaturalist projects documenting roadkill,
in order to assist with such analyses, such as:
Long-eared Owl (Asio otus), roadkill, July 2018, Manitoba Interlake, Canada.
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