Abstract
Birrer S, Meier R (2020) First cliff-breeding of Long-eared Owl Asio otus in Switzerland. Ornithologischer Beobachter 117: 348–352. In 2017, climbers discovered three young owls in a rock face at around 1600 m a.s.l. of the northern Alps (Switzerland, canton of Glarus). The chicks turned out to be Long-eared Owls. This was the first documented brood in a mountain cliff in continental Europe. Reasons why the owls bred in the cliff could be the high population pressure due to good foraging conditions and the resulting lack of traditional breeding sites, or a better protection from the weather.
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