Ashy-faced owl
Ashy-faced owl | |
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Ashy-faced owl | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Strigiformes |
Family: | Tytonidae |
Genus: | Tyto |
Species: | T. glaucops
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Binomial name | |
Tyto glaucops (Kaup, 1852)
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The ashy-faced owl (Tyto glaucops) is a species of bird in the barn-owl family
Taxonomy and systematics
The ashy-faced owl was
The taxonomy of the ashy-faced owl is unsettled. At one time it was considered
This article follows the IOC treatment with these three subspecies:[3]
- T. g. glaucops (Kaup, 1852) – Hispaniola
- T. g. nigrescens (Lawrence, 1878) – Dominica
- T. g. insularis (Saint Vincent to Grenada (south Lesser Antilles)
Description
The ashy-faced owl is 27 to 33 cm (11 to 13 in) long. Males weigh about 260 to 350 g (9.2 to 12 oz) and females about 460 to 540 g (16 to 19 oz). Adults of the
Subspecies T. g. insularis has a
Distribution and habitat
The nominate subspecies of the ashy-faced owl is found on the island of Hispaniola, which is shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti, and on Île de la Tortue of the northwestern Haitian coast. T. g. insularis is found on the islands of St. Vincent, Bequia, Union, Carriacou, and Grenada in the southern Lesser Antilles. T. g. nigrescens is found on the island of Dominica in the north-central Lesser Antilles.[3][7][12]
On Hispaniola the ashy-faced owl inhabits a wide variety of landscapes, both natural and human-altered. The former include open woodlands, denser broadleaf forest, and scrublands. The latter includes farmlands, oil-palm plantations, solitary buildings, and villages and towns. In elevation it ranges from sea level to 2,000 m (6,600 ft). The other two subspecies also use essentially all available habitats on their small islands.[7][12]
Behavior
Movement
The ashy-faced owl is a year-round resident throughout its range, though on Hispaniola young may disperse quite widely from their natal site.[7][12]
Feeding
The ashy-faced owl is primarily a nocturnal hunter, though in the absence of competing diurnal predators some may hunt during the day. Its diet is mostly small vertebrates including mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians, but it also feeds on invertebrates.[7][12] A study published in 2010 compared the diets of ashy-faced and barn owls in the Dominican Republic. (Barn owls had first arrive on Hispaniola around 1950.) The author examined the regurgitated pellets the owls produce, which contain the undigested bones, fur, and feathers of their prey. It was found that they each consume over 100 species of prey, with 92 species being in common between the two. Small mammals predominated in both diets, particularly so in the American barn owl, and made up the greatest proportion of the biomass. Both caught a similar proportion of bats, but the ashy-faced owl caught more birds. Amphibians and reptiles were also consumed more often by the ashy-faced owl than by the American barn owl. No conclusion could be reached as to whether the competition for food caused by the arrival of the American barn owl was detrimental to the native species.[13]
Breeding
The nominate subspecies of the ashy-faced owl on Hispaniola breeds mostly between January and June. Eggs of T. g. nigrescens have been reported in September and nestlings in April. There are no data specific to the breeding season of T. g. insularis. The ashy-faced owl nests in cavities, both natural and human-made. Natural holes in tree trunks and branches, the walls of sinkholes, earthen banks, and cliffs are used. The species also nests in human structures such as barns, church steeples, abandoned buildings, nest boxes provided for them, and even the attics of occupied dwellings.[7][12]
Vocalization
On Hispaniola the ashy-faced owl makes a "hissing cry, prefaced by a series of higher-pitched ratchety clicks and a c. 2–3 seconds screeching call likened to criiisssssh.[7] Other vocalizations of the nominate subspecies and those of the other two subspecies have not been well studied, but anecdotally include a wide variety of "screeches, wheezes, purrs, snores, twitters, hisses and yelps".[7][12]
Status
The
References
- ^ . Retrieved 12 August 2023.
- ^ "Appendices | CITES". cites.org. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
- ^ a b c d e Gill, F.; Donsker, D.; Rasmussen, P., eds. (July 2023). "Owls". IOC World Bird List. v 13.2. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
- ^ Kaup, Johann Jakob (1852). "Monograph of the owls (Strigidae)". Contributions to Ornithology for 1852. 5: 103–122 [118].
- ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
- ^ Peters, James Lee, ed. (1940). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 4. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 81.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Bruce, M.D., G. M. Kirwan, and J. S. Marks (2020). Ashy-faced Owl (Tyto glaucops), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (S. M. Billerman, B. K. Keeney, P. G. Rodewald, and T. S. Schulenberg, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.asfowl1.01 retrieved August 12, 2023
- ^ Chesser, R. T., S. M. Billerman, K. J. Burns, C. Cicero, J. L. Dunn, B. E. Hernández-Baños, R. A. Jiménez, A. W. Kratter, N. A. Mason, P. C. Rasmussen, J. V. Remsen, Jr., and K. Winker. 2023. Check-list of North American Birds (online). American Ornithological Society. https://checklist.americanornithology.org/taxa/
- ^ Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2022. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2022. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/ retrieved November 10, 2022
- ^ R. Terry Chesser, Shawn M. Billerman, Kevin J. Burns, Carla Cicero, Jon L. Dunn, Blanca E. Hernández-Baños, Rosa Alicia Jiménez, Andrew W. Kratter, Nicholas A. Mason, Pamela C. Rasmussen, J. V. Remsen, Jr., Douglas F. Stotz, and Kevin Winker. "Sixty-third supplement to the American Ornithological Society’s Check-list of North American Birds". American Ornithology 2022, vol. 139:1-13 retrieved August 9, 2022
- ^ HBW and BirdLife International (2022) Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. Version 7. Available at: https://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v7_Dec22.zip retrieved December 13, 2022
- ^ a b c d e f g h Marti, C. D., A. F. Poole, L. R. Bevier, M.D. Bruce, D. A. Christie, G. M. Kirwan, and J. S. Marks (2020). Barn Owl (Tyto alba), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (S. M. Billerman, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.brnowl.01 retrieved August 12, 2023
- S2CID 54542646.