Omani owl | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Strigiformes |
Family: | Strigidae |
Genus: | Strix |
Species: | S. butleri |
Binomial name | |
Strix butleri (Hume, 1878) | |
Synonyms | |
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The Omani owl (Strix butleri) is an owl of the genus Strix found in shrubland and rocky areas of Oman, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. [3] [4] It was discovered in 2013.
After the distinctive Omani owl was discovered, a similar-looking owl was reclassified from "Hume's owl" (Strix butleri) to the "desert owl" (Strix hadorami).
The holotype of Strix butleri was collected by the English ornithologist Colonel Edward Arthur Butler. Butler sent the holotype to Allan Octavian Hume, who described it in 1878, commemorating Butler with its scientific name. Hume was commemorated in the common name of the species before 2015 taxonomic revision. [5] Over the following century, similar owls seen, heard and collected in the Middle East were presumed to belong to the same species, but this was shown in 2015 to be incorrect. [6]
In 2013, Robb et al. discovered a previously unknown population of Strix owl in Oman, morphologically and vocally different from the widespread Middle Eastern species of owl known at the time as Hume's owl Strix butleri. They described this owl as a new species, giving it the binomial Strix omanensis and the common name Omani owl. It was described only from photographs and sound recordings, without a physical specimen or genetic sample. [4]
In 2015, analysis of the holotype of Strix butleri revealed that it was quite different from other specimens from throughout the Middle East presumed to be of the same species, and that it was more similar to the Omani owl; the authors concluded that Strix omanensis is most probably a synonym of Strix butleri, and renamed the more widespread species Strix hadorami, giving it the new common name desert tawny owl (subsequently shortened to desert owl by some authors). [6]
The IUCN lists Strix omanensis (now considered a synonym of Strix butleri) as data deficient. (The IUCN's evaluation for Strix butleri predates taxonomic changes, so now more properly applies to the desert owl, Strix hadorami.)
The Omani owl has a bi-coloured pale and dark grey face with orange eyes, dark greyish brown upperparts, pale underparts with long, narrow vertical dark streaks, relatively long legs, banded wings, and a banded tail. [4]
The Omani owl has been observed in high rocky cliffs, but not in nearby wadis. [4]
The brown fish owl is a fish owl species in the family known as typical owls, Strigidae. It is native from Turkey to South and Southeast Asia. Due its wide distribution it is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. It inhabits forests and wooded wetlands. Of the four living species of fish owl, it is the most widely distributed, most common and best-studied. It occupies a range of over 7,000 km (4,300 mi).
The desert owl or desert tawny owl, formerly known as Hume's owl, is a species of owl. It is closely related to the more widespread tawny owl and to the range-restricted Omani owl.
Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Arthur Butler was an English ornithologist and British Army officer. He is commemorated in the scientific specific name for the Omani owl, Strix butleri.
Hadoram Shirihai is an Israeli ornithologist and writer.
The mottled wood owl is a species of large owl found in India. They are found in gardens and thin deciduous forests adjacent to dry thorn forests or farmland. They are easily detected by their distinctive tremulous eerie calls at dawn and dusk. The characteristic call is a duet of the male and female while other notes include a low hoot and a screech. Their large size, lack of "ear" tufts and the concentric barring on the face make them easy to identify.
Strix is a genus of owls in the typical owl family (Strigidae), one of the two generally accepted living families of owls, with the other being the barn-owl (Tytonidae). Common names are earless owls or wood owls, though they are not the only owls without ear tufts, and "wood owl" is also used as a more generic name for forest-dwelling owls. Neotropical birds in the genus Ciccaba are sometimes included in Strix.
The mottled owl is a medium-sized owl found in Central and South America from Mexico to Brazil and Argentina. The head and back are mottled brown and the underparts whitish, with vertical bars on the chest and throat. The eyes are dark and the head is round and they do not have ear tufts. They are territorial and found in dry forests and jungles at altitudes of up to 2,500 m (8,200 ft) above sea level.
The Mascarene parrot or mascarin is an extinct species of parrot that was endemic to the Mascarene island of Réunion in the western Indian Ocean. The taxonomic relationships of this species have been subject to debate; it has historically been grouped with either the Psittaculini parrots or the vasa parrots, with the latest genetic study favouring the former group.
The extinct Mauritius scops owl, also known as Mauritius owl, Mauritius lizard owl, Commerson's owl, Sauzier's owl, or Newton's owl, was endemic to the Mascarene island of Mauritius. It is known from a collection of subfossil bones from the Mare aux Songes swamp, a detailed sketch made by de Jossigny in 1770, a no less detailed description by Desjardins of a bird shot in 1836, and a number of brief reports about owls, the first being those of Van Westzanen in 1602 and Matelief in 1606.
The fulvous owl, or Guatemala barred owl, is a resident of the cloud forests of Central America. A medium-sized true owl, it has a round head, lacking ear tufts. Typical coloration is warm dark brown or reddish brown on the back and lighter brown on the front with darker barring. Adults weigh approximately 600 grams (21 oz), with females being heavier. Its distribution is limited to highland regions of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. It inhabits elevations from 1,200 to 3,100 meters, and is fairly common within its range. Its behavior is poorly known, as are its population size and distribution. It is classified as a species of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, although it is considered endangered in Mexico.
The Chaco owl is an owl found in Argentina, Bolivia, and Paraguay.
The Pharaoh eagle-owl is a species of owl in the family Strigidae. It is native to Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sudan, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates.
The tawny owl, also called the brown owl, is commonly found in woodlands across Europe to western Siberia, and has seven recognized subspecies. It is a stocky, medium-sized owl, whose underparts are pale with dark streaks, and whose upper body may be either brown or grey. The tawny owl typically makes its nest in a tree hole where it can protect its eggs and young against potential predators. It is non-migratory and highly territorial: as a result, when young birds grow up and leave the parental nest, if they cannot find a vacant territory to claim as their own, they will often starve.
The Andaman masked owl is a barn owl endemic to the southern Andaman Islands, an archipelago between India and Myanmar, in the Bay of Bengal. Regarded by some authors as a subspecies of the common barn owl, it is recognized by others as a species in its own right.
The wildlife of Oman is the flora and fauna of this country in the southeastern corner of the Arabian Peninsula, with coasts on the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. The climate is hot and dry, apart from the southeastern coast, and the country offers a variety of habitats for wildlife including mountains, valleys, deserts, coastal plains and sea coasts.
The year 2013 in birding and ornithology.
The year 2015 in birding and ornithology.
Arthur Lennox Butler was a British naturalist. Born in Karachi, he became a curator of a natural history museum in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He later became the superintendent of a game preserve in Sudan before returning to England. He is commemorated in the scientific names of four species of reptile, a bird, and an amphibian.
The species was first described by Linnaeus in his Systema naturae in 1758 under its current scientific name. The binomial derives from Greek strix "owl" and Italian allocco, "tawny owl". Some early descriptions upon review were found to have somehow conflated the very different barn owl with the scientific name Strix aluco, which in turn engendered some confusion.