Little owls (Athene noctua) were censused 200 times at night with the aid of a light intensifier along a 40 km road-transect which ran across habitats allowing enough visibility. Marshes and olive-tree fields accounted for most of the transect length (24 km). Among other components of owl behaviour, it was investigated whether the number of owls foraging close to the road was affected by traffic intensity. More owls were spotted at times when the traffic load was lowest and less owls than expected foraged at traffic peaks. The authors suggest that this might be an antipredatory response to vehicles. Another possible explanation would be that little owls have problems to detect prey under the strong visually/auditory pollution experienced near roads when traffic density is high. Palabras clave: Bird, Bird of prey, Collision, Disturbance, Fauna casualty, Habitat, Highway, Marshland, Mortality, Noise, Owl, Pollution