Red owl
| Red owl | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Red owl |
||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Ninox rufa | ||||||||||
| ( Gould , 1846) |
The red owl ( Ninox rufa ) is a 44 to 55 centimeter tall species from the family of real owls .
Appearance
The birds have dark brown to black back plumage. The belly is light brown in color, has many thin, elongated, brown stripes and is lighter towards the bottom. The brown wings are also provided with several thin, elongated, light brown stripes. The area around the eyes is black. The beak is gray and the legs are light brown. The difference between the sexes is that the male is somewhat stronger; the color of the plumage is the same.
distribution
The red owl is found on the island of New Guinea , the Aru Islands and along the coast of Northern Australia . There this species inhabits the forest edges.
Way of life
They live very hidden in caves of old trees or in the canopy of tall trees. They are nocturnal. The species feeds on smaller birds, mammals, reptiles (e.g. geckos ), and insects (e.g. larger beetles).
Reproduction
The female lays 2 to 3 white eggs in a cavity of old trees. It incubates the eggs for 28 days on its own. The male takes care of the female during this time. Both parent animals provide the young with food. The young leave the nest at the age of one month.
Hazards and protective measures
Because of its widespread distribution and because no endangerments are known for this species, the IUCN classifies this species as Least Concern .
Subspecies
There are four known subspecies:
- Ninox rufa humeralis ( Bonaparte , 1850) - occurs in New Guinea , Waigeo, and the Aru Islands .
- Ninox rufa rufa ( Gould , 1846) - nominate form , is common in northwest Australia .
- Ninox rufa meesi I. J. Mason & Schodde , 1980 - occurs on the Cape York Peninsula .
- Ninox rufa queenslandica Mathews , 1911 - occurs in eastern Queensland .
The subspecies Ninox rufa aruensis described by Hermann Schlegel in 1866 is now considered a synonym for Ninox rufa humeralis .
literature
- Jiří Felix (eds.), Alena Čepická, Jaromír Knotek, Libuše Knotková: Wildlife of Australia and the Antarctic. Translated from the Czech by Ingeborg Šestáková. Arita, Prague 1986, p. 227.
- John Gould: The Next paper contains "Description of eleven new species of Australia Birds" . In: Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London . tape 14 , no. 158 , 1846, pp. 18-21 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
- Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte: Conspectus generum avium . tape 1 . EJ Brill, Leiden 1850 ( gallica.bnf.fr ).
- Gregory Macalister Mathews: Mr. GM Mathew exhibited and described examples of new species of Owl as follows . In: Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club . tape 27 , no. 167 , 1911, pp. 62 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
- Ian James Mason, Richard Schodde: Subspecies in the Rufous owl Ninox rufa (Gould) . In: Emu . tape 80 , no. 3 , 1980, ISSN 0158-4197 , pp. 141-144 .
- Hermann Schlegel: Observations zoologiques . In: Nederlandsch Tijdschrift voor de Dierkunde . tape 3 , 1866, pp. 325-358 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
Web links
- Ninox rufa inthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017.3. Listed by: BirdLife International, 2016. Retrieved January 10, 2018.