
What you'll do:
Check nest boxes, their condition, their content, fix them if needed, ring chicks and adults, build new nest boxes and put them up in trees to extend the network (over 500 so far!).
When:
All year round
Where:
Forest near Tromsø
What the project is about:
In 1978, a group of bird enthusiasts and scientists from the Norwegian institute for nature research (NINA) started putting up nest boxes for owls near Tromsø. Their goal was to provide nesting sites to compensate for the lack of natural cavities due to habitat loss, and to learn about the owls' movement and conservation status. The boreal owl, the pygmy owl and the hawk owl were the targeted species. Nearly 50 years on, the network has expanded to over 500 nest boxes, spanning a wide area. Some of the original project initiators remain actively involved, joined by new volunteers who continue to support the effort. Maintaining this network is a significant task, requiring regular inspections of the nest boxes throughout the year to ensure they are in good condition, and ringing the owls that use them to study their movements and survival. Rissa is supporting this long-term project by expanding the study area near Tromsø, putting up new nestboxes and taking care of them all year round with volunteers. Unlike what it may look like, forests are heavily managed in Norway. Most trees are logged before getting old, and species depending on cavities or large trees suffer from habitat loss. This project is also a way to raise awareness on the importance of letting the forests grow old. Keep an eye on the event page and join us for a short day in the forest: In winter, we will give you snowshoes, and in summer you will hike off the beaten tracks. At the end of the day, we report our observations to the leaders of this unique long-term monitoring, and we then eagerly wait for the annual report that summarizes hundreds of hours of work throughout Troms County.
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Our partners
Karl-Birger Strann and Vigdis Frivoll, retired from the Norsk institute for nature research (NINA).