К состоянию серой неясыти на Южном Урале

In recent years, the number of Tawny Owl Strix aluco sharply decreased throughout its range; projects to identify limiting factors and restore the population of this species are underway in a number of European countries. Most often, it is suggested that the disappearance of Tawny Owl is due to a lack of suitable nesting sites (large hollow trees), as well as competition with the larger and more aggressive Ural Owl S. uralensis. In the Chelyabinsk region, Tawny Owl was last recorded in 2010 in Asha town. In the spring of 2023, naturalist A. A. Volkov made and installed nest boxes for Tawny Owl in several places in that town. In May 2024, while checking the boxes, he heard and recorded the voice of Tawny Owl on his phone, and on 15 June he discovered 4 flying chicks of the grey morph. On 19 July 2024, I managed to take photos of the birds and film them. Later, the owls were seen and heard in that place several more times until September. Recently, the easternmost record of the species in Russia was made in Yekaterinburg. Tawny Owl is slightly more common in the Republic of Bashkortostan.