TWO more endangered barn owls were found dead on the Tralee bypass last Thursday which brings to number killed to seven since the road opened in August 2013.

Birdwatch Ireland have been conducting a survey on the Tralee Bypass since last August, after three barn owls and a long-eared owl were found dead along the 14km route shortly after the road opened.

Barn owls are particularly vulnerable to collisions with vehicles on wide, fast roads.

Continued below…

Two barn owls chicks, ringed at different nest sites in Kerry on the same day last August, were both found dead last Thursday within 5km of each other on the Tralee Bypass.

“It’s a small number of barn-owls that have died, but the thing is they are an endangered species,” said John Lusby of Birdwatch Ireland.

“Kerry is, by far and away, the stronghold of the barn owl in terms of numbers. Because the number of barn owls is as a critically low level, we put a lot of importance on the numbers in Kerry,” said Mr Lusby.

Another owl was found dead by the roadside three weeks ago just 300m south of the Bypass.

According to the ‘Irish Raptor Blog’; “Although most Barn Owl road casualties occur on flat or raised sections of road, this one occurred in a cutting (where the road is constructed below the level of the surrounding land).

However, the wide verges and embankments have uncut grassland habitat which is ideal for small mammals, and quite possibly attracted the Barn Owl to hunt along this stretch of road.”

Though central Kerry is a stronghold of the species, the seven barn owl deaths that are known about, along this short stretch of road, may be impacting on the local population.

Birdwatch Ireland are trying to find out if this is the case through the survey and monitoring work funded by Kerry County Council and the NRA.

For more information click HERE and HERE

Here’s a video of the male killed (on the left) with his siblings filmed at a nest box in near Castleisland. (Filmed under licence from NPWS: M.O’Clery & J. Lusby)