Alternative name: Akun Scops Owl
- Jubula lettii
Identification
40cm. A highly distinctive owl.
- Elongated nape and crown feathers forming a brown and white mane, merging with bushy brown-and-white ear-tufts
- Rufous facial disc edged in brown, contrasting with white forehead, eyebrows and lores
- Chestnut mantle and back, scapulars with black-edged whitish outer webs
- Brown-rufous wing-coverts with creamy and dark vermiculations
- Barred rufous and buff flight-feathers and tail
- White throat
- Light rufous upper breast, fading to buff or whitish on belly with dusky brown streaks
- Feathered tarsus
- Yellow to orange-yellow eyes
- Pale yellow bill
Sexes similar, females are darker and more heavily patterned. Juveniles have an alomst white head and neck, the rest is washed buff with faint rufous bars.
Distribution
West and Central Africa: From Liberia to Ivory Coast and Ghana, patchily from southern Cameroon and northern Gabon to eastern DRC.
A poorly known and difficult to observe species. Seldom seen but probably overlooked.
Taxonomy
This is a monotypic species.
Habitat
Gallery forest and lowland rainforest, especially where creepers are abundant.
Behaviour
A strictly nocturnal species. Often roosts in creepers where frequently mobbed py passerines.
Diet
Poorly known. Insects are probably most important.
Breeding
Breeding season in DRC probably March to May, fledglings seen in late December and January in Cameroon and Gabon, in February in Liberia.
No other information.
Movements
A resident species, presumably sedentary.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, B.L. Sullivan, C. L. Wood, and D. Roberson. 2013. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: Version 6.8., with updates to August 2013. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Del Hoyo, J, A Elliot, and J Sargatal, eds. 1999. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 5: Barn-Owls to Hummingbirds. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8487334252
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Maned Owl. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 28 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Maned_Owl
