Little owls to fight the little bird plague

Have you ever fallen into that black hole that is watching owl videos on YouTube? No? Never mind… Following all the little bird introductions of the late 1800s, it was time to bring in the little owl to control them. Between 1906 and 1920, around 200 little owls (Athene noctua) were released by the Otago Acclimatisation Society. More were released in Canterbury, and together, these Otago and Canterbury little owls have spread throughout the eastern parts of the South Island and up into the Tasman District, where they quite like Golden Bay (because who doesn’t?!). The hope was that they would eat all the small introduced birds that had become pests; the major flaw in this cunning plan was that little owls eat mostly moths. Okay, so they weren’t great at their intended purpose, but at least they’re not a threat to native bird species? They do seem to compete for habitat with the native morepork. Adult little owls have spots on their heads, which this one doesn’t, so it is likely a recently fledged bird.