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Found dead one of the arctic owls that landed on the Cantabrian coast

2022-03-04T12:25:54.598Z


Of the three specimens of the bird famous for the Harry Potter films that arrived in Asturias in November, only one would remain alive, but experts cannot confirm this because its track has been lost


Three white or snowy owls revolutionized the north of Spain last autumn.

The sighting of these specimens of the species, which became famous for being the bird that accompanied the wizard Harry Potter in his adventures, surprised experts and amateur ornithologists because Asturias and Cantabria are latitudes far removed from the polar habitat or tundras where they nest.

The birds of prey were spotted as they moved eastward and it was in Santoña (Cantabria) where this Thursday the body of one of the females that had been observed was located.

Another specimen had already died, the first that was seen on November 7 on the beach of the Virgen del Mar in Santander.

He had no luck and the next day his remains were found.

The specialist of the SEO/BirdLife ornithology NGO Gonzalo Pardo de Santaya explains that the first analyzes revealed that the bird, which is characterized by its white plumage with black spots, died “exhausted”.

After him, on November 10 and 13, his two companions arrived, a female and a male who flew around the Asturian cape of Peñas until, around the 20th of that month, a strong storm caused the couple to move heading east, experts explain.

On November 27 the male was in Somo (Cantabria), perched on a fence, and on November 30 the female was discovered in Santoña (Cantabria),

The Santoñesa town witnessed both owls several times, mainly in the marshlands, something that for Pardo de Santaya proves that the couple moved there in search of food.

It is an environment where waterfowl abound, the main sustenance of the nivals in winter, indicates this expert, more than the rats, mice or small rodents that the collective imagination attributes to the diet of birds of prey with these characteristics.

Once the body of the female is found, the Cantabrian wildlife recovery center will carry out an autopsy to determine the causes of death.

The main hypotheses point to starvation or the ingestion of a poisoned rodent.

“Hopefully it will be quick and we can clarify the reasons,” asks the SEO/BirdLife expert, who suspects that they are wild birds against the theory that they were captive-bred birds that could have escaped.

It is necessary, he adds, to wait for the results of the study of radioactive isotopes, which analyzes the animal's plumage or skin to evaluate the levels of oxygen and carbon and determine where it has grown and if it could have been in captivity.

One of the great unknowns about these arctic birds of prey is knowing how they landed in northern Spain.

The main theory is that these late-migrating specimens left in November from the tundra of Alaska or Canada, where they normally live, to areas further south in search of food.

On those dates in their places of origin, with large masses of snow, it is difficult to hunt.

These owls are accustomed, says Pardo de Santaya, to long periods of movement without eating, so it is most likely that during their flight, during some storm, they perched to rest on the deck of some ocean liner and that the ship deposited them in the Principality of Asturias.

The observations revealed that the legs had traces of iron oxide, so it is concluded that they traveled on a merchant ship that brought iron to Gijón from North America.

"The male and the female were together, now it remains to be seen if the male is still alive, but to find out we will have to see him," says the member of SEO Birdlife, who trusts that the nival is still alive because "the males are smaller than females and need less food.

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Source: elparis

All news articles on 2022-03-04

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