Serendib Scops Owl
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| Otus thilohoffmanni Warakagoda & Rasmussen, 2004 |
The Serendib Scops Owl (Otus thilohoffmanni) is the most recently discovered bird in Sri Lanka. It was originally located by its unfamilar poo-ooo call in the Kitulgala rainforest by prominent Sri Lankan birder Deepal Warakagoda. Six years later, it was finally seen by him on 23 January 2001 in Sinharaja, and formally described as a species new to science in 2004 (Warakagoda & Rasmussen 2004). Apart from Sinharaja and Kitulgala it has also been met with at Ranakanda Reserve in Morapitiya, and Eratna Gilimale.
It is the first new bird to be discovered in Sri Lanka since 1868, when the Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) Whistling Thrush Myophonus blighi was discovered. It is also the 24th (according to some authorities the 27th) endemic bird species for Sri Lanka.
This rare species inhabits the rainforests in the southwestern sector of Sri Lanka. Like most owls, it is strictly nocturnal and hunts insects (e.g. beetles and moths) close to the ground. It begins calling at dusk, its frequency rising again some two hours before dawn.
Unlike the other two species of scops owl in Sri Lanka, viz. Indian Scops Owl Otus bakkamoena and Oriental Scops Owl Otus sunia, it does not have ear tufts and its facial disc is only weakly defined. The general color of this 16.5 cm long short-tailed owl is reddish brown with paler underparts, spotted all over with black. The irides are yellow and the feet and claws are white.
Photographs of this species can be found at http://www.orientalbirdimages.org/search.php?action=searchresult&Bird_ID=2735
[edit] Reference
- BirdLife International (2006). Otus thilohoffmanni. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes a brief justification of why this species is endangered and the criteria used
Warakagoda, D. H. and P. C. Rasmussen (2004) A new species of scops-owl from Sri Lanka Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club Vol. 124 pp. 85-105
