Dark owl
| Dark owl | ||||||||||
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Dark Owl ( Ninox obscura ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Ninox obscura | ||||||||||
| Hume , 1872 |
The dark owl ( Ninox obscura ) is a species of owl from the genus of the bush owl . It occurs on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Indian Ocean . It was only separated from the falcon owl ( Ninox scutulata ) in 2005 .
features
The small to medium-sized owl reaches a length of 29 to 30 centimeters. The plumage is bluish coffee-brown above and below, a little lighter and more reddish towards the lower abdomen. There are some whitish spots or bandages on the flanks or below. The under tail-coverts are banded weakly white. The eyes are yellow, the beak is dark blue with a dull green wax skin. The yellow toes have black claws.
The falcon owl ( Ninox scutulata ) is much lighter and has whitish spots on the forehead and clearly striped whitish underside. The sympatrically occurring Andamanenkauz ( Ninox affinis ) is colored smaller and lighter.
Way of life
The dark owl lives in forests and woodland in low elevations, where it probably lives on large insects. The call huuuwúp-huuuwúp with a slight increase is similar to that of the falcon owl.
distribution
It is endemic to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
literature
- Heimo Mikkola: Handbook owls of the world. All 249 species in 750 color photos. Original title: Owls of the World. A photographic guide. 2012, German-language edition, Franckh-Kosmos Verlags-GmbH & Co.KG, Stuttgart 2013, ISBN 978-3-440-13275-3 , p. 459.