Owl 8/16 February 2023 (Lifer 568/668) - Brown Fish Owl

This owl is a resident at Gunung Keriang near Jitra Kedah. This was my 4th attempt to see this bird. The MO to get it is to hunt it in the day while it roost amongst horizontal branch of the many tall trees before the Muslim cemetery. Alternatively you can  wait before dawn for it to return to roost and that is the best chance to spot the bird and  photograph it. 

The brown fish owl has prominent ear tufts and rufous brown upperparts that are heavily streaked with black or dark brown. Its underparts are buffy-fulvous to whitish, with wavy dark brown streaks and finer brown barring. Its throat is white and conspicuously puffed. Its facial disk is indistinct, the bill dark and the iris are  yellow. Its featherless feet are yellow. Two-year old brown fish owls are somewhat paler than adults. Female and male differ slightly in size.

 The calls of the buffy fish owl are described as a deep humming boom-uh-boom, a hup hup hu and a loud huhuhuhuhuhuhu.

The brown fish owl is more terrestrial than the fish eagle and consumes more invertebrates than either of those species, the eagle feeding mainly on fish followed by water birds and the eagle owl feeding mainly on mammals followed by land birds. If hungry, brown fish owls will scavenge carrion, a rare behavior for owls. 

OWL 8/16 - Dusky Eagle Owl (lifer 526)

The resident bird was at its ole hunt  on Friday when I got the long-awaited  news from my local fellow birder but alas dare not rush off from work as I already took  Thursday off to hunt for the elusive Red-legged Crake in FH. So hoping for the best that the bird will stay awhile until the weekend.

Saturday came as I tried my a third time in Fraser's Hill to see whether my lifer will show up. Just about 9.30am got a message that the Dusky Eagle Owl was sighted perching in another part of the tree in Sabak Bernam; I abandoned my wait in FH and rush down to Jeram Perak. Took me a good 2.5 hours to reach the there and I must say it was worth it.

Ever cautious of your movement

Miss Droopy

Giving you the look ...."buzz of buster"

The Dusky is one of the larger Owl to see in Peninsula coming in almost 2 feet tall. The female is slightly bigger than the male. It is considered a lowland bird and can be found near watershed area, pond or river, and kampung area. Although not completely nocturnal, the Dusky Eagle Owl usually spends the daytime in the seclusion of a shady bough or foliage, becoming active about an hour before sunset.

They have been observed on the move and hunting in the day, especially cloudy days, but never during the brightest and hottest hours. They are usually found in pairs and are very faithful to localities. These owls can be heard calling at all hours of the day, and are most vocal during the rainy and cold seasons.

Color in heavy shade matching the dark shade and tree branch

Description The facial disc is whitish with dark shaft-streaks of feathers and a distinct, narrow and darker rim. The irises of the eyes are bright yellow. My id tip is its pinkish droopy eyelid when it is dozing off.  The cere and bill are bluish-lead in color with a pale yellowish-horn tip. The other tip is its prominent ear-tufts are a darker greyish-brown color. The upperparts are brownish-grey with blackish shaft-streaks and dark brown and whitish vermiculations. The scapulars have whitish outer webs, finely vermiculated brown, forming an indistinct scapular row.

The underparts are very pale buffish-grey with prominent, dark shaft-streaks and brown cross-bars. The primary and secondary flight feathers are barred light and darker greyish-brown. The tail is pale brownish-grey with white tips and has 4-5 broad, dark greyish-brown bars. The tarsi are feathered to or beyond the base of the toes. The sparsely bristled tips of the toes are plumbeous-grey in color with paler soles. Claws are blackish-brown.

Color in the evening light

Dusky Eagle Owls feed on small mammals, birds, reptiles, frogs, fish, and large insects. 

OWL 7/16 - Barred Eagle Owl

Yahoo!!!! First owl captured in the wild. And best of all there were a pair of Barred Eagle Owl. I think the whitish browed one is a juvenile with its parent. Breaking the egg will start the owls rolling in I hope. Will get more in Penang bird park in 2 weeks time............

A beautiful rounded and broad bird of about 46 cm tall. They are one of the bigger residents of Malaysia. Found in broadleaved evergreen forest, plantation and sometime reside in suburb naturalised wood park. In this case Shah Alam.

Give out this monotone quiet whining quack which give it away. Approachable to 40-60 ft if you are patient. Stay at middle storey of shady trees facing open ground looking for preys...........of course they are resting in the day.

OWL 6/16 - Spotted Brown Owl

 One of the most exciting sounds to come from our woods and forests belongs our resident owl—the Spotted Wood-Owl. This bird is twice the size of the Brown Hawk-Owl and emits a loud and powerful coughing sound somewhat like the barking of a dog. It gives deep quavering call wrrrrooh....repeat.

This sound has been described as the "most exciting" and also the "most eerie frightening sound" of the forest in the night, and we can well believe that the Spotted Woods call has given rise to stories of supernatural happenings.
It's not too difficult to hear the Spotted Wood, as it prefers the edge of the forest and woods and also tends to stick to the same neck of the woods. It also calls at quite specific times in the twilight hours of roughly between 6.30pm and 7.30pm, as if to announce that it is now up and about. The Spotted Wood is a large owl that is generally brownish with whitish spots all over the upper parts of its body and, like the Brown Hawk, it also does not have ear-tufts. Can sometimes be seen in mangrove forest, plantations and fringes of wooded park.


This lifer of my shot in Penang bird park

OWL 5/16 - Brown Hawk Owl

The Brown Hawk-Owl is slightly larger than the Collared Scops and it is one of several found in Malaysia that do not have ear-tufts. The Brown Hawk-Owl has a very strange appearance. Its facial disc is rather small. It is overally brown on the crown and upperparts while its pale breast and belly is marked heavily with broad rufous brown streaks.

The Brown Hawk Owl is a medium-sized (32cm) owl with a hawk-like shape due to its long tail and lack of a distinct facial disk with a barred tail....although the subspecies found in the Andaman Islands has dark brown underparts. The eyes are large and yellow. Sexes are similar.

This species is very nocturnal but it can often be located by the small birds that mob it while it is roosting in a tree. It feeds mainly on large insects, frogs, lizards, small birds, and mice. The call is a repeated low soft, musical oo-uk ...ooo-uk... which may be heard at dusk and dawn.

This species not only looks like a hawk but they also hunt like hawks—which explains why its been so named. Brown Hawk-owls usually take their prey, mainly insects, on the wing. Swooping above or through trees in the darkness, they are easily mistaken for nightjars.

OWL 4/16 - Buffy Fish Owl

This is one in a series of owls in Penang bird park. They have about half a dozen of them here for conservation or commercial purpose I will never know.

Another owl that's a resident of woods and forests so called because it lives on fish and other aquatic life and haunts streams and the reservoirs, looking for its prey. The Buffy Fish is larger than the Brown Hawk but smaller than the Spotted Wood and the first part of its name aptly describes its buffy appearance on its undersides, with fine streaks; its upper parts are covered with dark bars.

Look a Buffy in the eye and you'll be sure to see a whitish spot where its eyebrows meet—a very distinctive feature. The Buffy Fish-Owl is also distinguished by its brilliant yellowish eyes and prominent ear-tufts, usually tilted at 45 degrees.

It is know as a "Ketupa ketupu" locally.

OWL 3/16 - Collared Scops Owl (Sunda Scops)

 Collared Scops Owl

The Collared Scops Owl is a common resident bird in forests and other well-wooded areas. It nests in a hole in a tree, laying 3-5 eggs. In Malaysia can be sighted in Awana Genting

The Collared Scops Owl is a small (23-25cm) owl, although it is the largest of the scops owls. Like other scops owls, it has small head tufts, or ears. The upperparts are grey or brown, depending on the morph, with faint buff spotting. The underparts are buff with fine darker streaking.

The facial disc is whitish or buff, and the eyes are orange or brown. There is a buff neckband. Sexes are similar. The flight is deeply undulating.

This species is nocturnal. Through its natural camouflage, it is very difficult to see in daytime. But it can often be located by the small birds that mob it while it is roosting in a tree. It feeds mainly on insects. The call is a soft single note whuk?.

This specie is very similar to the slightly larger partially migratory Indian Scops Owl. However they can be separated on call and eye colour

OWL 2/16 - Collared Owlet

Pic1

 Collared Owlet

Pic 2

This is a submontane owl of SEA except Singapore. In Peninsula Malaysia Collared Owlet can be commonly heard & seen in Awana and Fraser Hill. The altitude range is from 400m upto to 3,000m.

It is the smallest of Owl coming in at about 7-8 inches in Malaysia. Besides its yellow eye and prominent streaked at its belly ; the owl has a buff and blackish face image at its nape ( back of neck).

It prey on small birds and mammal like squirrel. It do its hunting anytime; day and night. Most often when it call other birds will get agitated and try to mock the owlet. That is why it has this unique facial pattern at its nape to frighten off those nuisance birds wanting to mock it from behind. Pic2

 

 

OWL 1/16 - Barn Owl

 Barn Owl

Barn Owl is the most widely distributed species of owl, and one of the most widespread of all birds. It is also referred to as Common Owl. It is found almost anywhere in the world outside polar and desert regions, as well as all of Asia north of the Alpide belt, New Zealand, and most of Indonesia and the Pacific islands. In Malaysia the subspecies is call Tyto Alba Javanicus. Apparently Barn Owls are short-lived birds. Most die in their first year of life, with the average life expectancy being 1 to 2 years in the wild with exceptions.

In Malaysia padi field farmers and plantation managers do provide "barn" boxes for them at their fields as a symbiosis between man- animal. One Owl can catch rats and rodents of a dozen cats. It is a bloody flying mouse trap!

The Barn Owl is a pale, long-winged, long-legged owl with a short squarish tail. Depending on subspecies, it measures c.25-45 cm in overall length, with a wingspan of about 75-100 cm. Tail shape is a way of distinguishing the Barn Owl from true owls when seen in flight, as are the wavering motions and the open dangling feathered legs. The light face with its peculiar shape and the black eyes give the flying bird an odd and startling appearance, like a flat mask with oversized oblique black eyeslits, the ridge of feathers above the bill somewhat resembling a nose