Christian Artuso: Birds, Wildlife: A few African Owls

A recent trip to Cape Town, South Africa and Tanzania enables me to add some African Owls to my blog. I will combine these with some photos I had previously posted from Cameroon for a round-of of African owls (though still far from complete) in rough taxonomic sequence.Unfortunately for me, there were several species of owl that I saw on these trips that I did not manage to photograph including Fraser's Eagle-Owl in Cameroon and Cape Eagle-Owl, Southern White-faced Owl and African Barred Owlet in Tanzania.

Barn Owl (Tyto alba affinis), Cameroon, © Christian Artuso
The Tytonidae is represented by only three species on the African continent (another on Madagascar). The first is none other than the Barn Owl (Tyto alba) and we start by showing one of the African subspecies T. a. affinis with a collage that shows a male and a female from Cameroon.

African Grass-Owl (Tyto capensis), Kiponzelo swamp, Iringa, Tanzania, © Christian Artuso
The only other Tytonid owl I have managed to see in Africa is the African Grass Owl (Tyto capensis). Alas, I did not manage to get an in-focus photo as the bird flew by in the failing light so this is all I have to share. At least it shows the long legs characteristic of the grass-owls.

African Scops-Owl (Otus s. senegalensis), Cameroon, © Christian Artuso
The "typical-owl" family (Strigidae) is much more diverse and is represented by 39 species in Africa. We start with the scops-owls of the genus Otus and I will break from the taxonomic sequence slightly to put the most widespread and common species first. This African Scops-Owl was roosting along a creek in northern Cameroon. This habitat shot gives a little bit of a sense of the roost preference of African Scops-Owl in dense thickets in a low-lying wet depression (probably cooler microclimate).

Sokoke Scops-Owl (Otus ireneae), Kwa Mguni Forest, Tanga, Tanzania, © Christian Artuso

The beautiful Sokoke Scops-Owl is a very small (approximately 17 cm in length) scops-owl (genus Otus) that is endemic to eastern Africa (a tiny area of coastal southeast Kenya and northeastern Tanzania). It is listed as globally Endangered because of its very small population size and the fact it is found in disjunct and fragmented areas of forest that are under substantial threat of clearing. Most people see this species in the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest Reserve in Kenya but I wanted to try to see it in Tanzania, even though it seems few people do (for example, prior to my visit there were no records in eBird in Tanzania). On the second night at Kwa Mguni Forest (a published site for this species but an area few foreign birders ever visit), we found a calling Sokoke Scops-Owl and managed to get record photos. We saw lots of signs of recent clearing in this part of Tanzania (except in areas controlled by the military) and recent evidence of illegal logging in the Kwa Mguni forest (our guide from the local village was visibly upset to see this). It made me realise that this poorly known species is probably hanging on by a thread.

Pemba Scops-Owl (Otus pembaensis), Pemba, Tanzania, © Christian Artuso

The island of Pemba, off Tanzania’s east coast and north of the island of Zanzibar, has four endemic species: Pemba Scops-Owl, Pemba Green Pigeon, Pemba White-eye and Pemba Sunbird. The chance to see an island-endemic scops-owl was enough to lure me over to the island. It turned out the owls were not difficult to find, as I easily saw five or six individuals along the edge of Ngezi Forest, one of the few remaining forest patches on the island. This is a collage of two different individuals. There is so little forest left on Pemba that this species is considered globally Vulnerable; however, it can use some anthropogenically modified habitat such as spice farms where trees such as clove and cinnamon are grown.

Northern White-faced Owl (Ptilopsis leucotis) Waza National Park, Cameroon, © Christian Artuso
The White-faced Owls were once considered to be one species but are now usually treated as two species: Northern White-faced Owl (Ptilopsis leucotis) and Southern White-faced Owl (P. granti). They are well known for their very distinctive facial pattern and are now usually placed in a genus of their own “Ptilopsis”, although this was not always the case. They are only found in Africa. The first photo shows the underpart pattern and the second shows the back. The distinctiveness of this particular owl (combined with the symbolism of all owls) was apparently the big selling feature for the strangest wildlife photography sale I have ever made—to be used on the cover of a romance novel (if you don’t believe me, see: http://www.amazon.ca/Love-Gone-Mamie-Walker-Cowser/dp/1608623513/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423709019&sr=8-1&keywords=love+gone+awry) – a lot different from the books my owl photos usually are used for! To see more abut the owling trip where I saw these bird see: http://artusobirds.blogspot.ca/2009/02/cameroon-6-nightlife.html

Spotted Eagle-Owl (Bubo africanus), Cape Town, South Africa, © Christian Artuso

The Spotted Eagle-Owl is a widespread and common African Bubo (eagle-owl) species, found in a variety of woodlands and savannah types across sub-Saharan Africa. There are also Spotted Eagle-Owls on the Arabian peninsula, which may be a separate species. I was delighted to find three roosting birds in the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden in Cape Town, South Africa (in part thanks to a friendly tip from grounds staff) but they offered such splendid views in the early morning as they settled in at their roost sites that I had a hard time choosing which photos to share… nothing for it but to make an album with two photos of them in the golden hour, one of a bird from the back shortly after it flew in to join its mate and one of a bird preening later in the day and, finally a shot of the pair together.

Greyish Eagle-Owl (Bubo cinerascens), Waza National Park, Cameroon © Christian Artuso

The Greyish eagle-owl is similar to Spotted eagle-Owl but found across central Africa and west Africa. This series shows one hunting on the ground for insects in savannah habitat. The last photo shows one perched in a tree.

Verreaux's Eagle-Owl (Bubo lacteus), Cameroon © Christian Artuso
The Verreaux's Eagle-Owl, also known as Giant Eagle-Owl and Milky Eagle-Owl from Sub-Saharan Africa measures 60 – 65 cm, making it among the largest owls in the world (after congenitors Eurasian Eagle-Owl and Blakiston’s Fish-Owl and arguably after others like Great Gray Owl). One of the most distinctive feature of this species is their pink eyelids offset by dark eyelashes that show well in this photo. Despite the owl’s large size, their pink eyelids create a gentle almost coquettish expression. I took these two photos at Ngoundaba Ranch in northern Cameroon.

Usambara Eagle-Owl (Bubo vosseleri), Amani Nature Reserve, Tanga, Tanzania, © Christian Artuso

I am not quite sure why the Usambara Eagle-Owl was one of the African birds I most wanted to see, so finding one perched quietly in the Amani Nature reserve was certainly a highlight! Not even a passing truck could ruin the excitement. Although a forest species, this owl will come out to the forest edge to hunt, and, on this night, one was perched beside the road that runs through the reserve. This is a collage I made of three photos of the same individual. Some taxonomists consider this to be a subspecies of Fraser's Eagle-Owl (Bubo poensis) but most consider it a Tanzanian endemic species, only found in the country’s eastern Mountains (Usambara and Uluguru Mountains). Regardless of taxonomy, it is certainly vulnerable to forest clearing in its tiny range.

Pel's Fishing-Owl (Scotopelia peli), Magombera Monkey Forest, Morogoro, Tanzania, © Christian Artuso

The three species of fishing-owls in the uniquely African genus genus Scotopelia are all amazing and fascinating. The Pel’s Fishing-Owl is the most widespread of the three but even it has a somewhat patchy distribution. A very large owl (60 cm +/-), it requires relatively undisturbed waterways and tall forest or mangrove. I made a special trip to the Magombera Monkey Forest to look for this owl. It was well worth the trip as, in addition to learning of their conservation project and other fascinating research to learn how to live with elephants in rural areas, seeing this beautiful owl on a roost was truly inspiring.

The African Wood-Owl is a striking species with a somewhat maned appearance created by the dark hood. I am going to post two photos from two countries: one of a bird roosting in bamboo from South Africa and this bird, one of four that frequented the Emau Hills camp sites in eastern Tanzania. This photo of a singing bird (I believe this is a male based on voice) shows off the distinctive plumage well, including the “hood”. This is a widespread African species is, interestingly enough, the only Strix species found south of the Sahara and the only endemic African Strix species (Desert Owl and Tawny Owl each occur in only a northern corner of Africa; Desert Owl in a tiny part of Egypt and Tawny Owl in the extreme northwest). This individual from northeastern Tanzania should be the nigricantior subspecies, which is said to be darker overall; however, subspecifics are poorly defined in both description and distribution and not especially meaningful (some have suggested that the African Wood-Owls from the coastal forests of Kenya and perhaps neighbouring Tanzania may be better treated as a different subspecies).

Widespread in sub-Saharan Africa, the Pearl-spotted Owlet is the most widespread pygmy-owl (genus Glaucidium) on the continent and arguably the most diurnal. This first photo, of two I will post, shows a day-active Pearl-spotted Owlet in northern Cameroon being mobbed by a Senegal Eremomela (Eremomela pusilla) and other passerines. Like other pygmy-owls (which typically go by the name of “owlet” in the Africa and Asia but “pygmy-owl” in the Americas and Europe), this tiny owls (many are less than 20 cm in length) are fierce and capable of taking prey larger than themselves. They seem to evoke fear in all manner of small birds! The second photo shows a night-active Pearl-spotted Owlet in Tanzania. I was a little surprised to find several of these small owls hunting at night in the arid parts of southern Tanzania since my previous encounters with them had all been by day.

There are six species in the genus Asio, with a fairly elongated body and ear-tufts of varying sizes (from very short as in Short-eared Owl to very long as in Long-eared Owl). The Marsh Owl is endemic to the African continent (including Madagascar) and is a bird of grasslands and marshlands (similar to Short-eared Owl in that aspect). Again thanks to some generous information from locals, I was able to observe this bird hunting at dusk in Cape Town. For most of the time, the Marsh Owl was fairly far away from where I was standing at the edge of the wetland/grassland but it one point it flew in my direction and then dove into the grass, apparently catching something, although I could not see what. This series shows the Marsh Owl flying to the area where it had detected something, the plunge, and then the bird’s head sticking out of the grass. The last photo shows another bird I saw at dusk in a montane wetland/grassland in southern Tanzania.