Torotoroka scops owl
| Torotoroka scops owl | ||||||||||
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Torotoroka scops owl ( Otus madagascariensis ) |
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| Otus madagascariensis | ||||||||||
| ( Grandidier , 1867) |
The Torotoroka-Zwergohreule ( Otus madagascariensis ) is an owl from the genus of scops owl . It is restricted to the island of Madagascar and was once attributed to the Madagascar scops owl ( Otus rutilus ).
description
The length is 20 to 22 centimeters, the weight 85 to 115 grams, whereby the female is over 15 grams heavier than the male. The gray morph, as the most common form, has a brownish gray upper side with a clearly pronounced white shoulder band and a light gray lower side with long, narrow shaft lines. The brown morph is very similar, but the base tone is brownish. The very rare red morph is fairly uniformly reddish brown with dark dashes. The feather ears are short, the eyes yellow and the beak blackish, the legs heavily feathered.
The similar Madagascar scops owl has a shorter tail, featherless tarsi towards the base and a more indistinct markings on the top. Their brown and red morphs are much more common, and the call sounds distinctly different.
Way of life
The owl inhabits dry forests in the central highlands and lowlands, even in poorly preserved habitats and sometimes appears in villages. The call is a two- or three-syllable purr in stanzas of three to five sounds, which is repeated often and at different intervals.
distribution
The Torotoroka scops owl is endemic to western and southwestern Madagascar. This makes it an ecological counterpart to the Madagascar scops owl, which occurs in the higher elevations and in the more humid east of Madagascar.
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. 145.