Observe: It is a collaborative submit using the collective expertise, brainpower, and enthusiasm of a number of 10,000 Birds writers as an instance and showcase the magnificent chook household that’s the Scops Owl, hopefully supporting a paradigm shift that may additional improve the status of Otus amongst ornithologists and birdwatchers alike. And no, this sentence was not written by ChatGPT, regardless that it sounds prefer it was.
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There are 56 species of Otus Scops Owls, and they’re all fantastic – and that could be a strictly scientific assertion. This submit covers twelve of them – although hopefully amongst us, we are able to add many extra sooner or later.
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My encounter with the São Tomé Scops Owl was in Parque Pure Obô de São Tomé – and I’ve written about this explicit journey earlier than. We have been tenting and whereas my information António was cooking, the scops owl was calling within the distance. António known as again and for the following 40 minutes, the inter-species duet between man and owl continued. The owl got here nearer however by no means shut sufficient for us to identify. The following day we left camp and virtually instantly noticed the scops owl in a tree. Diurnal mammal spots nocturnal chook – completely satisfied occasions.
Spot the owl – it’s not straightforward, however my evening on that soaked mountain wasn’t a picnic both! Intriguingly, my fellow SPEA board member Martim Melo described the sister species Principe Scops Owl shortly after I visited São Tomé e Principe – leaving me with an excellent cause to return to the islands (Peter Penning).
Bonus Scops Owl: Principe Scops Owl as seen and photographed by Martim Melo.
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The truth that I can spot it in daytime throughout migration is likely one of the many explanation why I really like the Oriental Scops Owl. Additionally, it seems a bit like a hybrid between a cartoon satan and a barely evil cat.
And it even is available in two totally different colours, greyish-brown and reddish, giving me a superb cause to point out not one however two photographs. On one of the best days within the autumn migration, it’s potential to see about 10 of those flying cats contained in the Nanhui microforests of Shanghai (Kai Pflug).
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One other good excuse for exhibiting two photographs of the identical species is in case you can present a chick – right here is one in all a Collared Scops Owl. In Jixi, Anhui, China, the mum or dad watched carefully from close by.
Surprisingly, many Chinese language chook photographers strolling very shut by fully ignored each owls – that they had come for the white morph of a male Amur Paradise Flycatcher that was the native attraction. Now that chook could also be prettier for most individuals, however not for me (Kai Pflug).
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Cyprus Scops Owl was a traditional arm-chair tick for me: it was a chook that I knew properly when it was nonetheless considered merely an island race of the widespread European Scops Owl. It’s solely comparatively not too long ago that it has been elevated to full species standing. It’s a standard resident all through the island and will be heard even within the Troodos Mountains, however it’s a troublesome chook to see. I’ve fond recollections of watching birds at Agios Ermogenis, near the Curium, the place these diminutive owls reside in towering eucalyptus timber.
This yr I returned to Cyprus for the primary time since Otus cyprius turned a full species. Although a calling chook greeted me on my first evening on the island, frustratingly I didn’t see it, although it was solely ft away. The decision is diagnostic, consisting of two notes in a inflexible sequence: a quiet observe, adopted by a brief silence, then a loud observe, and a protracted silence. It’s going to repeat these two notes monotonously for minutes on finish. If I had managed to see it, I’d have seen a darker, greyer chook than O. scops, however one that’s in any other case very comparable. (David Tomlinson)
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The Serendib Scops-Owl is definitely a part of the “Otus premium membership” (which might have many members, admittedly). It was solely found the yr I used to be born (2001), which made me notably desperate to see it within the rainforests of Sri Lanka to which it’s endemic. I’ve seen this species a number of occasions within the Sinharaja Forest – the primary time with my instructor (and fellow birder) on a college discipline journey. Not solely is that this the rarest owl I’ve ever seen, however it was additionally the most effective Otus sightings I’ve had (Luca Feuerriegel).
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The Eurasian Scops-Owl is after all far more frequent and widespread than the opposite species I’ve described right here, the Serendib Scops-Owl. It’s due to this fact ironic that the sighting of it was a lot much less anticipated and much worse. Not that I got here throughout it accidentally. In actual fact, the other is true as I twitched the chook in a neighborhood in Bonn, Germany. The chook was calling actively and briefly perched in a gap on the prime of a housing block. I’m wanting ahead to seeing this chook in its Mediterranean habitat and in circumstances that don’t drive me to crank up my digicam’s ISO (Luca Feuerriegel).
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Of the 55 members of the genus Optus, the African Scops (Otus senegalis) has by far the most important vary, as it’s broadly distributed in Sub-Saharan Africa, from Senegambia throughout to Ethiopia and all the way in which south to Botswana and South Africa. It’s a chook of the savannahs quite than the rain forest, so it absent from the Congo basin.
Just like the European Scops Owl (O.scops), with which it was as soon as lumped, it’s a strictly nocturnal chook, which makes it a problem to see. I’d heard it many occasions in East Africa – its distinctive frog-like calls are repeated each 5-8 seconds – however I’d typically struggled to see it. My best-ever views have been in Namibia, at Halali Camp in Etosha. The camp boys often know the place these diminutive owls are roosting, and in return for a modest tip will present one to you.
European Scops Owl additionally happens as a wintering chook within the Sahel zone. The 2 are virtually equivalent in look, however within the hand, senegalis has a distinct wing method, its primaries barely shorter, indicating that it’s a non-migratory African Scops Owl (David Tomlinson)
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Arabuko-Sokoke Forest, a protected space off the east coast of Kenya, options Brachystegia woodlands and Cynometra forest. And the place these timber develop, you will see that essentially the most cute Sokoke Scops-Owl, Otus ireneae. (I do know, saying “cute” and “scops-owl” in the identical sentence is repetitive.) Wikipedia says it’s the smallest of the Scops-Owls, Handbook of Birds of the World merely says that it’s small, 15-18 centimeters in size. After I visited Kenya in 2023, an area information offered by the Wildlife Service had us wait. It was a brief wait, about 20 minutes, after which he led us to an space of seemingly undisturbed, thick shrubbery. And in the midst of this shrubbery was this good, compactly structured, tiny, reddish creature. We quietly seen the Sokoke Scops-Owl in small teams. Although it seems ticked off on this picture, it afterward closed its eyes and did its scops-owl factor, which was to disregard the foolish people and wait till darkish, when it may get its fill of scarab beetles, crickets, and small birds. Sokoke Scops-Owl is endangered, discovered solely on this tiny space in Kenya and comparable habitat in northeast Tanzania. It’s one in all a number of endemic creatures discovered within the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest (Golden-rumped Elephant Shrew, anybody?). The loggers are eyeing the forest and local weather change presents its personal challenges to this very particular habitat. The time to see this Scops-Owl is NOW (Donna Schulman).
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The Japanese Scops Owl is a uncommon customer to Shanghai – I’ve seen it twice to date in by now most likely virtually 1000 visits to Nanhui, Shanghai. A take a look at its Cornell entry and distribution map explains why – it’s non-migratory, and although it isn’t restricted to Japan in any respect, additionally breeding within the Koreas, components of Russia, and Northern China, its regular vary continues to be fairly a bit north of Shanghai (Kai Pflug).
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In distinction, the identify of the Sulawesi Scops Owl is kind of a bit extra becoming because the species actually solely lives on Sulawesi and some satellite tv for pc islands. I noticed this owl close to Manado, a metropolis on Sulawesi – which match properly with the owl’s scientific identify, Otus manadensis. Admittedly, on this case, seeing the owl was a bit like getting a comfort prize – I had spent a fruitless afternoon in a blind ready for a Sulawesi Pitta which didn’t move the essential courtesy avian courtesy rule “Birds ought to be seen not heard” – and for a photographer like me, simply listening to a chook is sort of extra irritating than not getting any signal of life in any respect (Kai Pflug).
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However, the Moluccan Scops Owl was certainly the principle goal of that night after I had didn’t see it the evening earlier than and was already step by step falling into the standard existential doubts about whether or not this species actually existed. Thankfully, I can now say it does. Apparently not solely on Halmahera, the place I noticed it, however on a number of main islands within the broader space as properly. And as everybody is aware of, a number of islands imply a number of subspecies, one in all which, the Wetar Scops Owl, has already been promoted to full species. Sadly for this species, it thus misplaced the quite lovely scientific identify of the Moluccan Scops Owl, Otus magicus, the Magic Scops Owl (Kai Pflug).
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This submit was already accomplished and to be printed after I traveled to East Java and noticed my first Sunda Scops Owl. It appears to be fairly frequent there (I noticed two inside 100 meters of one another and heard just a few extra). Much more surprisingly, I seen that the Cornell entry on this owl has simply been up to date on October 22, 2024 – these updates appear rarer than owl spottings to me. The scientific identify is Otus (after all!) lempiji, which apparently is the Javanese identify for the owl. Apparently (although that is fully irrelevant data), the creator of the owl entry is one Chuenchom Hansasuta, who acquired a Physician of Dental Surgical procedure from Chulalongkorn College, the place I as soon as did a presentation on one of many dental merchandise I developed after I was nonetheless doing actual chemistry quite than consulting. I did warn you that this was irrelevant data (Kai Pflug).
All photographs by the respective authors, although Peter will most likely declare he didn’t take his.