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Japanese Scops Owl - BirdForum Opus


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Otus semitorques

Identification

Distribution

Japan, northeast China and southeast Siberia.

Taxonomy

Currently three subspecies are recognized:

  • O. s. ussuriensis on Sakhalin Island, Ussuriland and northeast China
  • O. s. semitorques on south Kuril Islands and Hokkaido south to Yakushima Island
  • O. s. pryeri on Hachijo Island (south Izu Islands) and south Ryukyu Islands (Okinawa to Iriomote)

ussuriensis was formerly included in Collared Scops Owl. The exact relationship between Indian Scops Owl, Japanese Scops Owl and Collared Scops Owl is still poorly understood and needs more research.

Habitat

Behaviour

It nests in tree holes.

The call of the male is a low whoop.

References

  1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2014. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: Version 6.9., with updates to August 2014. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
  2. Gill, F and D Donsker (Eds). 2014. IOC World Bird Names (version 4.3). Available at http://www.worldbirdnames.org/.

Recommended Citation

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