Michele Mendi

The species inhabits boreal and subalpine forest, as well as mixed woodland, with access to open sites allowing better access to prey. It has wide distribution across the boreal zone of North America and Eurasia (from Scandinavia through Siberia to Kamchatka); in addition, it has fragmented distribution in S, C & E Europe and Asia Minor, where it occurs mostly in mountains (Hayward, Hayward, 2020). Russia, Scandinavia and C Europe hold the strongholds of the European population (Keller et al. 2020).

Resident or partially migratory, often shows nomadic movements (Korpimäki, Hakkarainen, 2021).

Its population trend in Europe is fluctuating. Evaluated as “Least Concern” (BirdLife International 2021).

Season of assessment

B

Population trendFluctuating
Population size
(min-max, best estimate)		189000-471000,288000
Red List categoryLC
Franks, S., Fiedler, W., Arizaga, J., Jiguet, F., Nikolov, B., van der Jeugd, Ambrosini, R, Aizpurua, O., Bairlein, F., Clark, J., Fattorini, N, Hammond, M., Higgins, D, Levering, H., Skellorn, W., Spina, F, Thorup, K. Walker, J., Woodward, I. and Baillie, S.R. (1) (2022) Online Atlas of the movements of European bird populations. https://migrationatlas.org EURING/CMS (1) Principal investigator
Map

Overall Connectivity for Tengmalm's Owl

Contrary to adult females and young birds, adult males are less prone to disperse/ migrate (Hipkiss et al. 2002).

Data for mostly short-distance within-region movements are available – largely from Fennoscandia, but also from C, W & E Europe. Long-distance recoveries of birds marked in Fennoscandia (mainly Finland) show movements (1) SE, E & NE from their ringing sites – to E Europe, from extreme NW Russia to N Ukraine; (2) S direction to the E Baltic region and Belarus. A bird ringed in W Fennoscandia (Norway) has been encountered wintering in Britain. Those birds from the E Baltic region move mainly W & SW – reaching Belgium, France (Busse, Busse, 2003) and Switzerland. C European population shows mostly within-country or short-distance movements across neighbouring countries; some take even N routes, reaching the Baltic coast.

Recoveries by Condition for Tengmalm's Owl

Currently protected species in Europe. Most encounters were obtained after late 1980s, N Europe being the region holding the bulk of them (ca. 79%). The encounters mainly come from Apr-Jun – 51% (nestbox ringing), and from Sep-Oct (37%, autumn dispersal/ irruptions).

The encounters based on dead birds considerably decreased over time (from 87% pre-1960 to 8% after 1991), while those based on alive birds – markedly increased (from ca. 8% to 91% respectively); the latter is mostly due to ringing encounters. Nestbox encounters keep rather constant share after 1961 (ca. 5%). Encounters based on shot birds are from pre-1960 only (17%). Traffic and collision with glass are among the currently important negative factors.

Most distant recoveries (>=50 km) are less than 550 km from the ringing site.

Annual Movements for Tengmalm's Owl

Post-natal and autumn movements start in late Jul to early Aug and last usually until Oct, early Nov at latest (Korpimäki, Hakkarainen, 2021). Juveniles from the population in Finland are recorded between Sep and Feb wintering in Scandinavia during invasion, having taken SW, W and even NW routes from the breeding grounds (Saurola et al. 2013). Scandinavian population seems to disperse/ migrate within the peninsula mostly.

Return movements in spring take place between Mar and early May (Noskov et al. 2016).

Similarly to N Europe, large-scale irruptive movements (some nearly 800 km) have been recorded in C Europe as well (Korpimäki, Hakkarainen, 2021).

Although the species is largely resident in S Europe, a long-distance movement of 156 km has been recorded within the Spanish Pyrenees (Malagelada et al. 2007).

Connectivity by Month by Region for Tengmalm's Owl

Females move much further away in their natal dispersal compared to males – 140 vs. 47.7 km respectively (Newton et al. 2002). Based on data from Fennoscandia during post-natal dispersion and autumn migration juveniles are more frequent than adults, and the sex ratio of juvenile owls is significantly female-biased; in addition, among juveniles, males migrate earlier than females (Hipkiss et al. 2002).

Regular autumn movements are thought to extend at least 500–600 km (Korpimäki, Hakkarainen, 2021).

Post-breeding dispersal and autumn migration movements are evident from mid- to late summer; during invasion, the Finnish birds are mainly encountered from early autumn to late winter SW, W & NW (Sweden and Norway) from their natal sites (Saurola et al. 2013).

Return migration to the breeding grounds takes place early- to late spring.

Boris Nikolov

References

Statistics Map
N records N individuals N recoveries
Mapped data*
Total available data
*Mapped data include only distant (>= 50 km) recoveries
References Map
2020 . European Breeding Bird Atlas 2: Distribution, Abundance and Change. European Bird Census Council & Lynx Edicions, BarcelonaEditor(s): Keller, V., S. Herrando, P. Voříšek, et al.
BirdLife International 2021 . Species factsheet: Aegolius funereus. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 07/08/2021.
Busse, P., Busse, W. 2003 . Autumn migration of owls along the Polish Baltic Sea coast. Vogelwelt 124: 281–284
Hayward, G. D. and P. H. Hayward 2020 . Boreal Owl (Aegolius funereus), version 1.0. In Birds of the World Link to Article (DOI: https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.borowl.01) Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA
Hipkiss, T., Hörnfeldt, B., Lundmark, Å., Norbäck, M., Ellegren, H. 2002 . Sex ratio and age structure of nomadic Tengmalm's owls: A molecular approach. Journal of Avian Biology 33: 107–110
Korpimäki, E., & Hakkarainen, H. 2012 . The Boreal Owl: Ecology, Behaviour and Conservation of a Forest-Dwelling Predator. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Malagelada, E.B., Bonada, Á., López, A., Potrony, D., Saló, R. 2007 . First long-distance movement of a Tengmalm's Owl Aegolius funereus recorded in the Pyrenees, Spain. Revista Catalana d’Ornitologia 23: 44–47
Newton, I., Kavanagh, R., Olsen, J., Taylor, I. 2002 . Ecology and Conservation of Owls. CSIRO Publ., Collingwood
Noskov, G. A., Rymkevich, T. A., Gaginskaya, A. R. 2016 . Migration of Birds on Northwest Russia. Non-Passerines. ANO LA “Professional”, Saint Petersburg
Saurola, P. Valkama, J., Velmala, W. 2013 . The Finnish Bird Ringing Atlas Vol. I. Finnish Museum of Natural History and Ministry of Environment, Helsinki

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