SNN (ScrollingNetworkNews) ✿ ✿ Our Mel and Sydney returned to their nesting box with plenty of bonding occurring..but after 2.5 months of Sydney in the box from Dec 2013 to mid Feb 2014, the lack of prey gifts from Mel ( perhaps due to the severe and historic drought underway in California)and they have forgone the nesting process this year as many other raptors ✿ Compared to other owls of similar size, the Barn Owl has a much higher metabolic rate, requiring relatively more food. Pound for pound, Barn Owls consume more rodents – often regarded as pests by humans – than possibly any other creature. ✿ We remind viewers that sometimes owlets may not survive - the parents will dispose of things in "The Owl Way" -viewer discretion is advised, this is nature and the "Owl way". ✿ ~ ✿ “Animals, like us, are living souls. They are not things. They are not objects. Neither are they human. Yet they mourn. They love. They dance. They suffer. They know the peaks and chasms of being.” ― Gary Kowalski, The Souls of Animals ✿ Each species is a masterpiece, a creation assembled with extreme care and genius." ~ E.O. Wilson

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Masked Tyto’s

Andaman Masked Owl (Tyto alba deroepstorffi)
This is a race of Barn Owl, is now considered a separate species Andaman Masked Owl (Tyto deroepstorffi) by some authorities. Only source which treats this as a full species is IOC.
 Endemic to the S Andaman Islands - Smallish. Almost uniformly dark reddish brown above. Reddish buff below, with some speckling. Face reddish buff.
 All others consider it a subspecies of Barn Owl, Tyto alba.

Taliabu Masked Owl (Tyto nigrobrunnea)
Also called a hoarse or raspy. Taliabu Sula Islands. Information of this species is only known from one specimen, an adult female owl collected in 1938, and now at the Museum of Zoology Dresden, Germany. One of the last sighting in 1991 has not been confirmed, causing some experts doubt its existence.
The underside is golden brown species with black spots, while the upper part dark brown. From the head backward to the wing feathers have whitish spots.
Mostly brown fur with white tip. The tail is brown with three dark bands. Jambuan reddish brown face, with the area around the eyes darker. The habits of this species is still unknown.
Its existence is recorded has been very rare.

There are over 200 owl species in the world, but within the Barn Owl family, there are just 18 species according to the IOC list of World Bird Names. The Barn Owl (Tyto alba) has an impressive global distribution. Its range includes most of the Americas, Caribbean Islands, much of Europe, parts of North Africa, most of sub-Saharan Africa, parts of the Arabian Peninsula, parts of Asia, Australia, Tasmania and various islands in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans, including the Galapagos, the Falklands, the Cape Verde Islands and Madagascar. It might just be the world’s most widely distributed land bird. Its heart-shaped facial disc must make it one of the most loved.
IOC = International Ornithological Congress

Trivia Q: Incubation for the American Barn owl egg is between 29-34 days. Can you name another Tyto whose egg incubation  last to 42 days?