Animals Drinking; more to it than meets the tongue

All vertebrate life (and probably all other life) needs water, and the simplest way is seemingly just to drink it. However it's not always that simple actually and in fact quite a few animals, including many desert dwellers, rely on getting their necessary liquid intake from their food. This may be from succulent plants or from eating other animals. In general however most animals drink daily, usually more than once. And even among these, there's no one way that all animals drink. 

Among larger mammals (especially larger carnivores and hoofed mammals) lapping with the tongue is prevalent. But even here there are variations. Dogs and relatives scoop with the tongue, while cats quickly withdraw the tongue, 'pulling' water up into the mouth. 

Big male Jaguar Panthera onca, lapping water from a river, Pantanal,
south-western Brazil.

Sumatran Tiger Panthera tigris sumatrae, Adelaide Zoo.
(And this is the only captive animal to feature here, but that lapping tongue was too good to ignore!)

Most herbivores submerge the tip of their muzzle and use the tongue as a pump. (The following three images are old - pre-digital - scans of slides, all taken at Etosha National Park, in the deserts of northern Namibia. Unfortunately they're still the best I've got of drinking antelopes.)

Black-faced Impala Aepyceros petersi, a species found only in northern Namibia
and adjacent Angola.

 

Gemsbok Oryx gazella, a large desert antelope from south-western Africa.

Female Nyala Tragelaphus angasii, truly a beautiful antelope.

Common Warthog Phacochoerus africanus, Waza NP, northern Cameroon.

Southern Giraffe Giraffa giraffa, another old scan from Etosha I'm afraid. To reach the
water, giraffes must either spread stiff front legs widely, or bend them as here. According to
the Etosha NP web site the question of how they managed to get water 'uphill' for that distance was
resolved by a visiting physicist. Apparently the animal uses two 'valves' to achieve
the feat. One valve is formed by the lips, the other by the epiglottis at the back of
the mouth. It first 'sinks its puckered lips into the water and then pulls back its jaw, allowing
water to rush into the mouth, all the while keeping the epiglottis “valve” closed.
Next, the giraffe clenches its lips and relaxes the epiglottis, then pumps its jaw so that
the captured water is pushed into the esophagus.' From time it lifts its neck to
allow collected water to run down into the stomach. As with many animals,
this is when it is at its most vulnerable to predators.

Distant Vicunas Lama vicugna drinking in Salinas y Aguada Blanca National Reserve, southern Peru,
on the northern edge of the Atacama Desert. This wild ancestor of the Alpaca lives only in the high
cold and arid Andes.

Kangaroos have apparently independently evolved a similar lapping system to cats and dogs, with a long narrow muzzle and and long tongue. This also enables desert kangaroos (especially Red Kangaroos and Euros) to access narrow water supplies such as in rock crevices, which are inaccessible to domestic stock.

Euro Macropus robustus drinking from a waterhole in Idalia NP, central Quensland.

Finally elephants, uniquely (well they've got a monopoly on trunks these days!) suck water into their trunks and then blow it directly into their mouths. This one was part of a large loose herd coming to drink and bathe in pools in the Ewaso Ng'iro River.

First it fills its trunk by suction...

... then it squirts it into its mouth.

Birds, obviously enough, must employ different strategies. With a very few exceptions, birds don't have suction available to them - no lips for a start! Accordingly it seems that most birds simply scoop water into their bill and tilt their head back.

Emus Dromaius novaehollandiae drinking from road puddles after overnight rain,
Mungo NP, south-western NSW. 

 

Interestingly these youngsters, at the same site, found it easier to reach the water
from a squatting position.

Here are some other birds using the same technique, though we can't actually see the moment of scooping.

These Apostlebirds Struthidea cinerea were taking advantage of a very shallow puddle by
a water tank in a roadside stop in western NSW.

White-winged Choughs Corcorax melanorhamphos drinking from a dam on
the outskirts of Canberra.

Crimson Chats Epthianura tricolor drinking at a rockhole on the southern
edge of the Great Sandy Desert in central far eastern Western Australia.

A small part of a huge flock of Masked and White-browed Woodswallows
(Artamus personatus and A. superciliosus) drinking at a waterhole south
of Georgetown, central northern Queensland.

Silvereyes Zosterops lateralis drinking in the relative safety of granite boulders
in a creek bed in Warrabah NP, central NSW. Drinking is always a potentially
hazardous undertaking, with predators always likely to be lurking.

A couple of groups of birds however are known to be able to suck; this is advantageous in that it reduces the dangerous time spent at the water's edge. Pigeons are the best-known exponents. They create a sort of peristaltic pump by sending waves of muscular contractions along the oesophagus to pull the water back.

Bar-shouldered Doves Geopelia humeralis drinking (at the same rockpool as the Euro above)
in Idalia NP, central Queensland.

Diamond Doves Geopelia cuneata (red eye and spotted wings) and
Peaceful Doves G. placida (blue eye-ring and barred wings) drinking
at Warrigal Waterhole near Mount Isa, far north-western Queensland.

White-headed Pigeon Columba leucomela in a back yard
on the edge of Nowra, south coast NSW.

Perhaps we shouldn't be too surprised to discover that a related family of birds, the arid land sandgrouse of Africa and Central Asia, have a similar drinking adaptation. In their case they suck water into the beak, then tip their head to allow to run into the crop for storage and transport to chicks in nests on the ground.

Black-faced Sandgrouse Pterocles decoratus, Amboseli NP, Kenya.

Chestnut-breasted Sandgrouse P. exustus Serengeti NP, Tanzania.

Chestnut-breasted Sandgrouse, Waza NP, northern Cameroon.
I have included this poor photo because, if you click on it to enlarge, you'll
see that the bird on the left is in the act of tipping its head back to swallow,
spilling some water in the process.

Some of the Australian grass-finches have also evolved a means of reducing drinking time by suction, though they use a different strategy, involving a 'bill-down' posture.
 

Australian Zebra Finch Taeniopygia castanotis drinking in typical position,
Murrawa Bore, Great Sandy Desert, WA.

 

Zebra Finches coming to drink in the evening at Willie Rockhole on
the southern edge of the Great Sandy Desert, WA.

They use their tongues as a double-action scoop, at up to twenty times a second, taking a droplet of water into the mouth, and from there back into the oesophagus and crop, via the pharynx. Other Australian grass finches which can do likewise include Double-bar, Gouldian, Diamond Firetail, Star, Long-tailed, Masked, Black-throated and Pictorella Finches. I don't know if this list is comprehensive, or if all others have been studied and excluded. As far as I know non-Australian grass finches do not have this ability, but again I don't know how far such studies extend.

At a little puddle by the headquarters complex in Serengeti NP,
Red-cheeked Cordon-bleus Uraeginthus bengalus and a
Blue-capped Cordon-bleu U. cyanocephalus contemplate
their drinking strategy. Or not.

I have read (non-authoritatively) that parrots can 'lap' water with their tongue - their tongues are very flexible, so it's plausible - but I've also seen it asserted that most birds also can, which seems contrary to most sources. The fact is that there is a lot of apparently unsubstantiated material 'out there', and some large information gaps.

This Australian Ringneck Parrot Barnardius zonarius at Idalia NP in central Queensland
certainly appeared to me to drinking steadily, not 'sipping and tipping' so I'm inclined
to believe that at least some parrots do 'lap'.

 

I couldn't tell with these - they'd paused their activity to keep an eye on me.

Eastern Rosella Platycercus eximius, Mount Majura, Canberra Nature Park.

Pale-headed Rosellas P. adscitus, taking early morning advantage of the 'infinity pool'
at Cobbold Gorge Station south of Georgetown, north Queensland.

Various nectar-dependant birds, including hummingbirds, sunbirds and honeyeaters, have forked or brush-tipped tongues to take up nectar by rapid movements, but I don't know if the first two have been observed drinking water, which is the topic of this post. I have certainly seen many species of Australian honeyeaters doing so however and many of those have been 'bill down' so not sipping and tipping.

Macleay's Honeyeater Xanthotis macleayanus, drinking at Kingfisher Park, Julatten,
north-east Queensland. Here the brush-tipped tongue is clearly visible, and obviously
'lapping' up the water, as it would flower nectar.

Noisy Friarbird Philemon corniculatus, at the same dam behind the campground
in Idalia NP as the Australian Ringneck just above. The tongue is not visible but
from this position it could only be using its tongue to lift the water.

No chance of seeing detail in this four-species chaos at an elevated trough (above the reach of goats)
at Gluepot Reserve in the mallee lands north of the Murray River in South Australia.
(For the record we have, from the left, White-eared, Brown-headed, Spiny-cheeked and
Yellow-plumed Honeyeaters.)

I've already alluded to a lack of information with regard to the drinking strategies of many bird groups, and this photo, again from the same Idalia NP dam, has caused me a lot frustration in attempting to explain what's happening.

The Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater Acanthagenys rufogularis on the right is behaving as
expected, but what about the Spotted Bowerbird Chlamydera maculata on the left?
Many bowerbirds use a coloured tongue as part of the display routine, but I can find
nothing to suggest that they use it to lap up water. But how else could it be drinking
from that position? I like a good mystery, but explanations are nice too!

 

And finally another mystery, plus an entirely different approach to drinking.

This young Australian Brushturkey Alectura lathami, living in the North Coast Regional
Botanic Garden at Coffs Harbour on the north coast of NSW, drank from this pond
by turning its head on its side - almost upside down in fact - to put its beak into the water.
Needless to say I had no idea what it was up to, and I can't find any mention of such
behaviour anywhere. Any suggestions welcomed!

Any finally, not a mystery, this is a well-known behaviour, but it's pretty amazing to watch.

Magnificent Frigatebirds Fregata magnificens, drinking from a pond on the island of
Isabela, Galápagos. These have briefly settled on the surface, but frigatebirds often
drink by swooping low over a water surface and scooping a beakful up as they go.
The next photo, though again a scan of an ancient slide, shows this behaviour quite well.

 

Lesser Frigatebirds Fregata ariel drinking on the wing from a bauxite mine
tailings pond, Weipa, far north Queensland.

Well I hope I've inveigled you to read this far (or at least look at the pictures); if you've learnt something that you're happy you now know, then I'm happy. Either way, thanks for reading and I'll see you next time.

NEXT POSTING TUESDAY 25 MARCH
Yes, this is a couple of days early but we're leaving the country on 27 March,
until early May.

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Owls; the ultimate night riders

I've been meaning to do a post on owls for some time now, but always felt that I didn't have enough decent photos to make it worth while. At this stage I'm probably not going to be able to improve on that any time soon, so rather than go on ignoring these wonderful birds I'll go with what I've got, rely on the owls to carry it, and hope you'll be tolerant!

Australian Boobook Ninox boobook, Nowra, NSW south coast. This roosting bird shows
the basic owl characteristics including very large eyes which can function at incredibly
low light levels, powerful bill, legs and claws, and feathered legs. All owls are carnivorous. 
The body and wing feathers are very soft and fringed to allow almost totally silent flight.
The fourth toe is very flexible, and can either face back (for a two forward/two back setup),
or forward (for three-forward/one back). You'll see both options in the photos which follow.
(There has been a lot of good work done recently on the complex of boobook species which
are found from eastern Asia, through the numerous islands north of Australia to
Australia itself and New Zealand.
Until recently it was called Southern Boobook N. novaeseelandiae, but the English name was
changed when previously included populations from the Lesser Sundas (including Timor),
Tasmania and New Zealand were all recognised as different species.)

One of the key things about owls is that they are, of course, mostly nocturnal (there are a few diurnal ones, but we can generalise to start with). This means that you either have to photograph them at night, while not hurting or scaring them with flashes, or find them in the daytime, when they're almost certainly going to be tucked away in foliage, away from the daytime birds which will harry them mercilessly if they can. Other people manage perfectly well of course, part of which might be due to better equipment, but mostly just better skills! A spinoff of this is that, while I can usually offer you photos of aspects of bird behaviour, pretty well all my owl photos show them roosting or staring down from a branch, and in a photo those two things look pretty similar I must admit!

The owls are a very successful group of hunting birds, with some 250 species found throughout the vegetated continents and they have occupied every habitat from the Arctic to the tropical rainforests. They are also an old group, with the oldest known fossil owl dating back 60 million years from a site in Wyoming. Owls comprise their own Order, with no obvious close relatives, though perhaps the daytime birds of prey (hawks etc) might be the closest. Within the Order there are two Families, the barn owls and the 'typical' or hawk owls, but the latter group totally dominates, with some 230 species to the barn owls' combined 20 or so. In Australia however the 10 breeding species are split evenly between the two Families.

Eastern Barn Owl Tyto javanica, Alice Springs. This is a 'rescue' owl at the excellent
Alice Springs Desert Park, free-flying but unable to be released. While it has the general
owl characteristics described above (here two toes forward and two back)
there are some obvious differences. The iris is dark, while in the majority of typical owls it is
pale, often yellow (the observation holds for all Australian species).
There is an obvious heart-shaped facial disc, fringed with stiff feathers, 
which acts as an external 'ear' to direct sound to the ear openings, hidden by the feathers.
(Other owls also have such a disc, but in most cases it is not as well developed as the barn owls' are.)
Not so obvious here is its lighter build and longer legs, or the difference in calls.
While typical owls in general have a call which is a variation on hooting,
barn owls have a rasping shriek or hiss.
(As with the boobook group discussed earlier, there have been major recent advances in
understanding barn owls relationships too. Until recently there was just one
Barn Owl Tyto alba recognised throughout the world, but now there are three.
'Ours' is found from Australia to southern Asia, while another is in Europe and
much of Africa, and the third in the Americas.)

Another very important owl characteristic isn't really shown in these photos either, and can only be properly seen from front-on.

American Barn Owl Tyto furcata Santa Cruz, Galápagos. This bird was roosting
in a rock crevice, trees being scarce commodities in most of the Galápagos.
Unlike nearly all other birds, its eyes are in the front of its face, enabling it
to have binocular vision; in most birds the eyes are on the sides of its
head, so the only way it can have the sort of 3D vision than an owl (and we)
regard as normal, is to turn the head from side to side.
This Sulphur-crested Cockatoo exemplifies the contrast.

I have sometimes wondered if owls are often described as 'wise' because we share this facial characteristic with them; ie they look a bit like us so must be wise! I wouldn't put any arrogance past us...

A couple more observations on barn owls and their differences from the 'main' owl Family, before a bit more on what makes owls so special, then going on to focus on the hooting majority. I'm very confident that the pale undersides of the Western Barn Owl (Tyto alba), its hair-raising screeches, silent flight and habit of roosting in church towers in Europe are the basis of many ghost stories. Members of the barn owl Family usually roost by day in hollows (presumably buildings were used by the Western Barn Owl when hollows were no longer available), whereas other owls make themselves as inconspicuous as possible within or behind foliage. Barn owls often don't defend a territory at all, and when they do it is usually by silent display. 'Typical' owls do so fiercely, and proclaim ownership with long hooting sessions.

Owls in general have other adaptations too that are of interest. For instance an owl can spread the bones of the lower mandible outwards, to extend the gape and enable large prey items to be swallowed whole. Like most carnivorous birds they regurgitate pellets of indigestible bones, feathers, fur and scales (which are invaluable in determining their diet).

Pellet from a Powerful Owl Ninox strenua which became a celebrity when it lived
in the Australian National Botanic Gardens in Canberra for a few weeks in autumn 2007.
It left when it had exhausted the supply of Ringtail Possums and Sugar Gliders;
this pellet is clearly composed of fur and bones.

Owls have never evolved echolocation to help them hunt at night, so have remarkable vision, with very large eyes relative to their skull size. This leaves little room for muscles to move the eyes, so they have developed extremely flexible necks, with twice as many neck vertebrae as we do, and special adaptations to prevent blood flow from being constricted when they swivel their head through about 270 degrees. In addition to the overall size of the eyes, they have a very large maximum pupil size, to enhance light gathering when there isn't much of it. They also have a preponderance of rod cells over cone cells in the retina; rod cells are much more light sensitive, while cone cells are good at colour vision. Hence an owl can see well at low light levels, at the expense of distinguishing colour.

The very large eyes of this Tropical Screech Owl Megascops choliba are evident.
We were actually sitting patiently waiting for an Ocelot (that never appeared for the
two nights we were there) at a bait station in the Pantanal of south-western Brazil,
but this was a nice compensation. (The lighting allegedly doesn't bother the Ocelot,
but we saw no evidence of that! Luckily it didn't seem to faze the owl either.)
The screech owls form a group of some 23 species found throughout much of the
Americas; this species is found widely in South America.

Some of the most impressive owl adaptations however are in their hearing, and many cases they are known to swoop and catch prey that they can't see at all. In an experimental situation Western Barn Owls could catch mice in a totally darkened room by homing in on the rustle of their feet on the floor. Even in light, other owls can grab unseen mice from grass clumps or under snow. They hear roughly the same range of frequencies that we do, but hear ten times as well in the frequencies that correspond to rustling noises in grass or leaves. Their ear openings, like their eyes, are unusually large and are covered loosely by special feathers which don't interfere much with sound. The facial disc, which we mentioned earlier as being especially well-developed in barn owls, is another important factor in gathering and focusing sound. 

This Short-eared Owl Asio flammeus is not a barn owl, but has a facial disc which is
equally well developed. This beauty was perched by the roadside near Lake Titicaca in the
high, cold mountains in the far south-east of Peru late one afternoon. That would have been
enough for us, but our very experienced local guides had never seen one in this part of the world.
The nearest it comes to here normally is on the north coast of Peru, and that rarely.
This medium-large owl hunts mostly by night, but also is regularly active in the daytime
and evening, concentrating on small mammals. It is found right across the Northern
Hemisphere and the southern half of South America, making it not only the most
widely-distributed owl in the world, but is arguably the most widespread of any land bird

 

As an another example of that last comment, here is a Short-eared Owl of the Gálapagos
sub-species, roosting in a chasm on Genovesa, in the Pacific 1000km from South America.
Note that because this one isn't gripping a perch, it's spread its toes widely.

But back to owls' superpowers. One way owls use their hypersensitive hearing is to turn the head until the sound reaching each ear is at exactly the same volume - which of course occurs when the object/prey is exactly in front of the owl. But there's a second, even more amazing, mechanism in play too. If the source of a sound is off to the right, it not only sounds marginally louder on that side but arrives at the right ear fractionally sooner than it gets to the left. By turning the head again until the sound reaches both ears simultaneously, again the owl knows that the prey is now right in front. But, even without moving its head (which could alert the prey) it can locate the prey precisely within a 60 degree arc. And to achieve all this, the owl can distinguish a time difference between one ear and the other of just 30 millionths of a second! My brain threatens to shut down when I try to process that information.

In Australia all owl species nest in tree hollows, except the generally uncommon Eastern Grass Owl Tyto longimembris (which nests on the  ground). Elsewhere however there are owls which breed on cliffs or in old bird nests, and hardly any of them bother even to line the nest site. 

 

One of my favourite owls, the little Burrowing Owl Athene cunicularia, actually nests underground, mostly in burrows provided by rodents or badgers - or at least that's what most of the information says. On looking into it however I've realised that this mostly refers to North America and ignores the fact that probably more Burrowing Owls live in South America. (North Amercan bias, surely not?😀) On going through my South American field guides, I discover that in fact most South American Burrowing Owls dig their own, which makes sense as burrowing mammals such as ground squirrels and badgers are absent there; skunk burrows might be the best bet for South America owls, but they're not abundant.

Young Burrowing Owls at the mouth of their burrow, Sipan archaeological site,
north-western Peru.

Adult Burrowing Owl in the same arid area. One of my favourite Burrowing Owl
stories is their habit of collecting dried mammal dung and leaving it near the
burrow to attract edible dung beetles! Tool use, surely?

As you'll have already noticed, most owl plumage is subtly (and beautifully) mottled and camouflaged, presumably to reduce the degree of daytime harassment by mobbing birds. Chicks however begin life with very fine down feathers for the first week or so, which is replaced by a thicker down called a mesoptile through which full feathers eventually grow.

Crested Owls Lophostrix cristata, Tortuguero, east coast of Costa Rica. The chick is still
wearing its mesoptile down. This handsome owl can be 40cm tall (female owls are bigger
than the males) and is found in tropical rainforests in South and Central America. Quite a few
owls have these 'ears', which have nothing to do with hearing, and everything to do with display.
This distinctive owl is the only member of its genus.

Here is a slightly better portrait of a pair of this lovely owl at
Sacha Lodge in the Ecuadorian Amazon

I thinks that's about enough of facts and figures. For the rest I'm just going to introduce a small range of owls from four continents, and see what stories might arise. I'll start with a few Australian species, noting that my photo coverage of them is woefully inadequate.

Australian Boobook at a cave entrance, Undara Lava Tubes NP, north Queensland.
Owls lurk around the tubes waiting for bats to emerge at dusk. This subspecies,
which is found across the western two thirds of Australia, is paler and redder
than the south-eastern subspecies in the first photo of this post. I can't
explain which this one's eyes look dark rather than the expected yellow.

Here is the celebrity Powerful Owl Ninox strenua in the National Botanic Gardens in
Canberra in 2007 that I mentioned earlier. The largest of the boobook group of owls
(and the largest Australian owl) it stands an imposing 60cm high, and is found in tall
forests along the south-east coast and hinterlands of Australia. However it is reasonably
comfortable in suburbia too and in Sydney is known to prey on big fruit bats which form
colonies there, and regularly on stray cats. Otherwise its regularly takes prey as big as
Ring-tailed Possums and Greater Gliders, Pied Currawongs, cockatoos and even lyrebirds.
I first heard its deep slow resonant 'whoo whoo' decades ago bouncing off the cliffs at night
in Gariwerd (Grampians) National Park in western Victoria, and have never forgotten it.

Rufous Owl Ninox rufa, Atherton Tableland, north Queensland. Another big owl, not
much smaller than the Powerful Owl. This one is solely tropical, found scattered across
northern Australia and New Guinea. It has a similar diet to the Powerful. A well-known
pair roosts in the Darwin Botanic Gardens, but I've never had the pleasure.

Barking Owl Ninox connivens near Townsville, north Queensland. I really did hesitate
before posting this awful photo (a scan of an old slide) but in this case I decided that it
was (just) better than nothing. Bigger than a Boobook, this is a woodland owl
found across virtually the whole continent, especially in woodlands and open
forests. Its call really be mistaken for a barking dog, especially when a pair
is duetting.

Tawny-bellied Screech Owl Megascops watsonii, Amazonia Lodge,
near Cusco in southern Peru. Like the Tropical Screech Owl we met earlier
(and all others in the genus) this one has prominent ear tufts. Note how it's
just opened its left eye a slit, to keep track of me.

A familiar group of owls to anyone who's birded in South and Central America is the pygmy owl genus Glaucidium. They are mostly active in the daytime and guides regularly use their call to attract other small birds which mob them. However while the Americas are their stronghold, there are also members of the genus in North America, Asia, Europe and Africa. Here are four species of pygmy owl, three from the Americas but also an African one.

Austral Pygmy Owl G. nana, from the icy Patagonian southern cone of South America,
here alongside Perito Merino Glacier in Argentina. The largest female weighs barely
100g, but they have been recorded taking birds as large as 160g, though insects
form a large part of the diet.

Ferruginous Pygmy Owl G. brasilianum, Chapada dos Guimarães, south-western Brazil.
(Despite its scientific name, it is found widely in South and Central America).
They mostly feed on insects but like the other pygmy owls they are feisty hunters
who are undeterred by the size of a potential lunch.

The same bird as above, with the back of its head facing us. These 'false eyes' are
characteristic of several pygmy owls, presumably to make the mobs of small birds
think they're always under observation, though it doesn't seem to deter them.
Below is closer view of a pair of these pretty little owls, this time from the Pantanal
in south-western Brazil.

Pacific Pygmy Owl N. peruanum, Olmos area, central northern Peru.
It is found along the dry Pacific coast from Ecuador to the northern tip of Chile, and is
the only pygmy owl found in the lowlands west of the Andes. Until fairly recently this pygmy
owl was lumped in with the Ferruginous Pygmy Owl, but their calls are very different.

Pearl-spotted Owlet G. perlatum, Tangarire NP, Tanzania. This is one of four
African pygmy owls, except that they're called owlets there. It's a fairly familiar
little owl, found very widely across sub-Saharan Africa; even I've seen it in four
different countries. Like its neotropical relatives it is often active by day.

The scops owls form a big genus (some 60 species, the largest owl genus) of Old World owls, mostly Asian though a few are found in Africa and Europe as well. Until fairly recently the American screech owls were also included, though that is now agreed to have been erroneous, especially with regard to their calls. Like screech owls they are medium small owls with prominent ear tufts. They are mostly quite nocturnal.

African Scops Owl Otus senegalensis, Tarangire NP, Tanzania. Like many
owls, scops owls have lovely camouflage. This one mostly eats invertebrates.
(Sorry about the stick!)

Madagascan (or Rainforest) Scops Owl Otus rutilus, Ankarana NP, Madagascar.
It is widespread on the island, but not a lot seems to be known about it.

This lurking behaviour is typical of owls which are totally nocturnal (or nearly so). As I've mentioned before they are fiercely attacked by large numbers of daytime birds of many species, which respond to the calls of others to join in the mob.

Buffy Fish Owl Ketupa ketupu, Kinabatangan River, Sabah, Malaysian Borneo.
Both scientific names are based on a Javanese name for this species. It is one
of half a dozen large owl species in Asia and Africa which are primarily fish-eaters.
This one may swoop from a perch to take fish from the surface,
or stand by the water, or even wade into it.

Until recently this was included in the genus Bubo, but it turns out that this was also a false grouping. Bubo still exists, as a genus of 10 species of horned owls (in the Americas) and eagle-owls (in Eurasia and Africa). These are seriously big owls, some of them considerably larger than our Powerful Owl! The Eurasian Eagle-Owl Bubo bubo can stand 75cm tall and weigh up to 4.5kg.

McKinder's Eagle-Owl, a subspecies of Cape Eagle-Owl Bubo capensis, central Kenya.
(Be kind, it took me some time to get an angle that showed even part of its face!) It was hidden
in a fig against a cliff face; the species is strongly associated with rocky areas across southern
Africa and in scattered populations in east Africa.

Our guide in this instance was an impressive young local man who's dedicated his life to studying owls - he'd been following this individual for seven years - and working with local communities, educating and advocating against the traditional persecution of owls, a serious problem all over the world.

Great Horned Owl Bubo virginianus, El Cajas NP, 4000 metres above sea level in
southern Ecuador. This huge owl is found throughout North America and much of
northern and eastern South America. We found this one by chance, sitting quietly
as one of our party poked about in a thicket. (Thanks Steve!)

Stygian Owl Asio stygius, Morro del Calzada Reserve, northern Peru.
A pair of these very imposing dark, brooding owls was roosting in the open
in this little forested montane reserve. They are scattered in central and South America
and the Caribbean, with a large range centred on southern Brazil. Despite being
large and widespread it seems that not a lot is known about them.
It is in the same genus as the Short-eared Owl that we met previously.

Spectacled Owl Pulsatrix perspicillata, Pantanal, south-western Brazil.
This large solitary owl is found in lowlands in Central America and throughout the
north-eastern half of South America. It has a wide range of habitats;
this one was in open woodland and grassland, and the only other one
that I've seen was in the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador.
The genus is a small solely Neotropical one.

The final genus in this little owl discovery tour is one familiar to Europeans and North Americans - think of the Tawny Owl and Barred and Great Grey Owls respectively. However, as is often the case, my offerings are South American, and there's a twist...

Mottled Owl Strix virgata, in a hotel garden in San José, Costa Rica.
This pair were tucked away in a massive stand of bamboos that must have
been over ten metres high. Another one that is found widely in Central and
northern South America, often around humans. It's mostly a perch-and-pounce hunter.

Black and White Owl Strix nigrolineata, Caño Negro, northern Costa Rica.
Another medium-sized owl from Central America and the far north-west of
South America. I find this one particularly striking.

And that brings us to a bird that belongs to a short list of birds that I most treasure having seen.

This owl was at San Isidro lodge on the eastern side of the northern Ecuadorian Andes,
at 2000 metres above sea level, and is only known from the vicinity of San Isidro.
It looks very like the Black and White Owl, and also like the closely related
Black-banded Owl (Strix huhula - how I love that name!) from the lowland rainforests
to the east. However the Black and White is only known from the western slopes of the Andes, and
the Black-banded is rarely found higher than 500 metres, and never above 1500.

In plumage and, reportedly, in voice, it seems midway between both those species. Indeed the general approach to it is to tentatively regard it as an isolated sub-species of Black-banded, though it seems to me there is little basis for that. It is widely known in birding circles as the 'mystery owl'. Obviously we need DNA (without the traditional method of obtaining it, of course!). Perhaps feathers from under a roost or eggs that have hatched would do? Of course that's easier said than done, though I'm surprised that no-one has succeeded yet - there are some brilliant bird guides in that part of the world. My bet would be on it being a new species, but it seems we must be patient for a while yet! Meanwhile I love the story and am very fortunate to have seen the bird.

Well it's been a long post, and one that I've been meaning to do for some years. If you've read this far, my thanks for doing so, and I hope it means that you're as fascinated by owls as I am. I hope too that I've been able to add something small to your knowledge and enjoyment of them.

NEXT POSTING THURSDAY 19 SEPTEMBER

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