Antigua rabbit owl
| Antigua rabbit owl | ||||||||||||
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| Athene cunicularia amaura | ||||||||||||
| ( Lawrence , 1878) |
The Antigua rabbit owl ( Athene cunicularia amaura ) is an extinct subspecies of the rabbit owl ( Athena cunicularia ). It was endemic to Antigua , Nevis, and St. Kitts in the Lesser Antilles .
features
The Antigua rabbit owl reached a length of 20 to 22 cm. The upper side was deep brown and marked with light reddish yellow spots. The wings of the hand were black-brown. The tail was dark brown with reddish yellow banding. The stripe above the eyes was light reddish yellow. The cheeks were dark brown. The feathers had reddish yellow tips. A broad, dark brown band ran around the light whitish-yellow-brown throat. The underside was reddish yellow with dark brown banding. The beak was bright yellow. The upper beak sides were black. The feet were dull yellowish brown. The iris was bright yellow. The females were more strongly banded on the lower abdomen.
Habitat and way of life
The Antigua rabbit owl was nocturnal and inhabited old drains, caves in rock faces and ruined walls. Because of its reputation, it was called Coo-coo by the locals. Captive owls often uttered a cackling cry, but not the distinctive call. According to Lawrence, lizards and mice were part of the food supply for these birds.
die out
The Antigua rabbit owl was feared as a demon by the superstitious islanders. Like the also extinct subspecies of Marie-Galante , it was probably never common. When the ornithologist George Newbold Lawrence visited Antigua, he could not find any specimen. So he offered a reward and within three hours three live birds were caught, which were discovered under a ledge in the limestone hills. There are also said to be visual evidence of the island of St. Kitts , but specimens of the Antigua rabbit owl were never collected there. Today only five museum specimens are known, kept in Chicago, New York, Tring, and Washington, DC. According to ornithologist James Bond from 1950, the last specimens were wiped out by mongooses around 1890.
literature
- Dieter Luther: The extinct birds of the world , Die Neue Brehm-Bücherei / A. Ziemsen Verlag Wittenberg, 3rd updated edition 1986, pages 122–123
- Friedhelm Weick : Owls (Strigiformes): annotated and illustrated checklist . Springer, 2006. ISBN 978-354-035-23-41
- Julian Pender Hume, Michael P. Walters: Extinct Birds , p. 199, A & C Black 2012, ISBN 140815725X
Individual evidence
- ↑ Lawrence, George N .: Catalog of the birds of Antigua and Barbuda, from collections made for the Smithsonian Institution, by Mr. Fred A. Ober, with his observations In: Proceedings of the United States National Museum, 1 (35), 1878: p. 232-242. On-line
- ↑ James Bond: Check-list of Birds of the West Indies , Waverly Press, 3rd edition, 1950