Monday, July 19, 2010

Spotted wood owl

Got alerted by SD that DL and friends have seen a pair of spotted wood owl (Strix seloputo) nearby just after work. This species is supposed to be a rare resident, which according to the annotated checklist of the birds of Singapore, only have a population of 6-10.

IMG_0078
I tagged along to have a look and they are really very cute! I was pretty amused to see one with the belly facing me but the head totally twisted 180 degree backwards. Soon, it turned back to face us and its eye-balls are damn huge~ :s

Interesting sighting~

3 comments:

Joe Lai said...

SY,

I wonder if I am seeing right? Take a good look at your owl photo. Can you see a sort of woven basket-work hanging from another branch 7 o'clock from the owl's position. It seems to be overwhelmed by creeping ferns.

SD said...

Hi Joseph,

That's the second owl obscured by the foliage. We were about 30m away so it's really grainy!

Shun Deng

Joe Lai said...

I thought so too, though it looks more like basketry because the 'leaves' of the apparent creeping ferns just don't match up with the other surrounding foliage of the tree. Everything looks a bit distorted. That goes to show how effective the barring pattern on the chest of the bird is. Haha : ) Thanks for telling me, SD. Cheers.

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