FIRE EFFECTS AND USE
WILDLIFE SPECIES: Asio flammeus | Short-Eared Owl 



DIRECT FIRE EFFECTS ON ANIMALS : 
Most adult birds escape fire [32].  Fire in early spring, before
fledging occurs, probably kills some juveniles.  Fire destroys some
nests [28], but because many grass fires burn in a patchy pattern, some
nests are skipped [28,30].

In northwestern North Dakota, June prescribed surface fires in western
wheatgrass (Pascopyrum smithii)-blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis)-
needle-and-thread grass (Stipa comata) prairie were set to test survival
of ground-nesting birds.  Twelve ground-nesting species, with a total of
177 active nests, were present before the fires.  One was a short-eared
owl nest.  Fire skipped 31 percent and burned 68 percent of the 177
nests.  Seven percent of the burned nests were partially burned and did
not produce brood, and 5 percent were partially burned and had eggs
hatch.  The short-eared owl nest was burned and subsequently had eggs
hatch [30].

In Massachusetts, an April wildfire in a sedge-rush (Carex-Juncus spp.)
marsh burned over several short-eared owl nests.  Clark [12] removed the
two eggs within one burned-over nest and placed them in an incubator.
They hatched, but the owlets appeared to have delayed visual
development.  The nest was not abandoned; the nesting female laid new
eggs that Clark left in the nest.  The new eggs hatched, and the owlets
developed normally.

Eggs of burned-over nests are highly vulnerable to ground-nest predators
due to loss of cover.  Ring-billed gull (Larus delawarensis) consumed
eggs from some burned-over short-eared owl nests following the
Massachusetts wildfire [12].


HABITAT RELATED FIRE EFFECTS : 
Fire was historically an important disturbance in many of the plant
communities short-eared owl occupy.  It created grass patches within
shrublands, maintained the open structure of parklands, and prevented
woody plant invasion of marshlands and grasslands.  Although much of
short-eared owl decline can be attributed to urbanization, at least some
is probably due to succession of open plant communities to closed ones
as a result of fire suppression.  Expansion of eastern deciduous species
into prairie, for example, has reduced short-eared owl habitat [32].


FIRE USE : 
Fire can maintain or expand short-eared owl habitat.  Burning after the
fledging stage, so that young owls are not lost to fire, is probably
best [30].  Because summer or fall fires are usually more severe than
spring fires, they would probably kill more woody vegetation, opening up
habitat as well as avoiding damage to reproduction.  Burning during the
nesting season, however, does not totally eliminate reproduction of
ground-nesting birds such as short-eared owl.  Kruse and Piehl [30]
recommended partial burning during the nesting season.  Partial burns
reduce cover less uniformly, but should result in higher recruitment of
ground-nesting birds than would complete burns conducted during the
nesting season.


REFERENCES : 
NO-ENTRY

Related categories for Wildlife Species: Asio flammeus | Short-Eared Owl