Brown Fish Owl
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| Brown Fish Owl | ||||||||||||||
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| Bubo zeylonensis (Gmelin, 1788) |
The Brown Fish Owl, Bubo zeylonensis, formerly Ketupa zeylonensis, is an owl. This species is a part of the larger grouping of owls known as typical owls, Strigidae, which contains most species of owl. The other grouping is the barn owls, Tytonidae. Brown Fish Owl and two related species were previously placed in the genus Ketupa, but DNA studies indicate that the fish owls are just specialised horned owls.
Brown Fish Owl is a resident breeder in most of tropical south Asia from the Middle East to south China. Its habitat is open wooded country, lowland forest and plantations, always near water.
It lays one or two eggs, often in the old stick nest of other birds, or in a rock crevice. Incubation is up to 38 days, and the young fledge after about 7 weeks.
The Brown Fish Owl is a large (55cm) owl. The upperparts are reddish brown, heavily streaked with black or dark brown. The underparts are buff with brown streaking. The throat is white. The eyes are yellow, and there are prominent "ears". 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 fish and frogs. The call is a soft huphuphuphuphuphup or a loud huhuhuhuhuhuhu.
Reference
- Birds of India by Grimmett, Inskipp and Inskipp, ISBN 0-691-04910-6de:Wellenbrust-Fischuhu