Text written in Basque and translated automatically by Elia without any subsequent editing. SEE ORIGINAL

Photo of the week: Worrying fall of the mochuelo in Bizkaia

According to a new study led by researchers from the UPV, the population of European mochuelo (Athene noctua) in Bizkaia has decreased by 73% in the last two decades.

The European Mochuelo is a nocturnal rapacious bird with white eyebrows and yellow eyes. in 2022 it was included in the Basque Catalogue of Threatened Species, in the category of Vulnerable, due to the estimated decline of its population of about 25%.

The Natural Heritage Service of the Provincial Council of Bizkaia promoted a study to know in more detail the trend of the population of Bizkaia. in 1998, 272 mochu-breeding areas were identified, of which only 55 were occupied by 2024.

The decline of the mochuelo is not an isolated event, it has a significant regression throughout the peninsula, but until now it was not measured with this precision, especially in the Atlantic areas. According to the authors, this regression reflects the transformation, abandonment and degradation of agro-pastoral ecosystems in Bizkaia.