Spotted Scops Owl
| Spotted Scops Owl | ||||||||||
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Spotted scops owl ( Otus spilocephalus luciae ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Otus spilocephalus | ||||||||||
| ( Blyth , 1846) |
The spotted scops owl or fox owl ( Otus spilocephalus ) is a species of owl from the genus of the scops owl . It is common in mountainous areas of South, Southeast and East Asia.
description
The very small owl grows 17 to 21 centimeters long and weighs 50 to 112 grams. The nominate form of the polymorphic species has a red-brown and a gray-brown morph . The top is drawn with blackish scribbles. The white outer flags and wide black tips of the inner shoulder feathers form a striking row of feathers. The whitish underside is banded in reddish brown with small black and white dots arranged in pairs. The eyes are golden yellow or greenish yellow, the beak light horn-colored, whitish or wax yellow, the feather ears short and inconspicuous. The leg fletching extends to the base of the light flesh-colored to pink-brown toes or a little beyond.
Way of life
It prefers moist forests in higher altitudes around 1,200 meters, sometimes it rises in altitudes of up to 3,000 meters. They feed on beetles, moths and other insects. The voice of the very shouting owl is a high -pitched whistle huu-huu , which is repeated six to twelve seconds apart.
distribution
The fox owl has a wide range from the foothills of the Himalayas in the northwest to the Great Sunda Islands in the southeast. The nominate form O. s. spilocephalus occurs from Nepal and Assam to Myanmar . O. s. huttoni from Pakistan to Nepal is much lighter. The strong red-brown subspecies O. s lives from southeast China to Laos . latouchi . In the mountains of Taiwan comes O. s. hambroecki without red morph, from Thailand , Laos and southern Annam to the Malay Peninsula the dark form O. s. siamensis . The mountains of the southern Malay Peninsula are inhabited by O. s. vulpes with a dark red-brown color. O. s. luciae on Borneo is drawn dark and bold, O. s. vandewateri in Sumatra is very dark brown.
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. 148.