Little Owl

While the ancient Greeks worshipped the Little Owl, the ancient Egyptians or Slavs considered Little Owls to be ominous and unclean birds. On one hand (or rather in the land of olives and the god Zeus), Little Owl was a symbol of wisdom and education, on the other hand (or rather few hundred kilometers further), people assigned a completely opposite role to this bird. The tiny owl has become a messenger of bad news, misfortune or even death.
In the 1920s, the Little Owl was the most common owl on the territory of today's Czech Republic – its abundance ranged in the order of thousands of individuals. At that time, Little Owls chased sparrows in each village, defended their territories by specific calls, observed the birth of Czechoslovakia from willow heads and orchards, and their young were getting great wealth of grasshoppers, crickets and earthworms from pastures found almost everywhere.

And now, about hundred years later, audio-recording of the Little Owl's voice provokes just dogs' barking in most villages, as they timidly react to a completely unknown sound. The remaining castaway Little Owls are watching the installation of new water barrels from behind chimneys or dormer windows of houses. Such containers comprise a completely unnecessary death trap for the birds, and unfortunately not the only one. Difficulties with searching for food, both for themselves and for their young, is an integral part of their struggle for survival. Current abundance of Little Owls on the entire territory of our country hardly exceeds a hundred pairs.

The Little Owl, similarly to many other species of agricultural landscape, is quickly and dramatically disappearing from our country. That is the reason why an Action Plan for this species has been prepared. Its main goal is to try to remedy what „thanks“ to us, humans, brought this sometimes comical, sometimes tender in partnership, sometimes relentlessly hunting, but always unforgettable species to the brink of extinction.