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Mean Eastern Barn Owl Nest-box Damage Ranged From 1.2% to 11.2% Across Five Thai Oil-palm Plantations

Eastern barn owl perched at night
Conservation · Management

A 2026 study assessed the condition of 452 nest boxes for eastern barn owls (Tyto javanica) across five oil-palm plantations in southern Thailand.

Monthly monitoring records from January 2022 to May 2023 showed marked differences among plantations. The estate labelled CPI1 had the lowest mean proportion of damaged boxes, 1.2%, and maintained a regular repair schedule. CPI4 had the highest mean proportion, 11.2%, and no repairs were recorded during the monitoring period. The other three plantations had intermediate damage levels of 1.9–6.7%.

Monthly percentage of damaged nest boxes at the five plantations, January 2022–May 2023.
Monthly percentage of damaged nest boxes at the five plantations, January 2022–May 2023. Thongratsakul et al. (2026), Figure 1 / figur 1, CC BY 4.0.

Damage rates differed significantly among plantations. The authors also found a descriptive tendency for more damage during the wet season, but the pooled wet–dry comparison was not clear. Cracks, partial collapse, water leakage and termite damage were among the conditions used to classify boxes as damaged.

The study did not measure owl occupancy or breeding success directly. To maintain suitable nesting structures, the authors recommend inspections before and after the wet season, with repairs completed within 30 days.

Sources and image credit

  1. Thongratsakul, S., Yindee, M., Hamarit, K., Sinnarong, N., Manatchaiworakul, W., Wajjwalku, W., & Poolkhet, C. (2026). Nest Box Condition and Maintenance of Barn Owls (Tyto alba) in Tropical Oil Palm Plantations. Animals, 16(6), 881. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani16060881Monthly monitoring of nest-box condition in Chumphon and Prachuap Khiri Khan, Thailand.

Image: Nikhil More — wild eastern barn owl (Tyto javanica stertens) photographed in Pune, India, 14 January 2022; Wikimedia Commons; representative species image, not a bird from the Thai study; cropped to 16:9 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

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