Includes Andaman Masked-Owl
- Tyto alba
Identification
A pale, long-winged, long-legged owl with a white, heart-shaped face. Its head and upperparts are buff, and the underparts vary from white to chestnut, depending on subspecies. It is 33–39 cm in length, with an 80–95 cm wingspan.
Distribution
Widespread but in decline in many areas due to changes in farming practices. Breeds in the British Isles (except the north), Iberia and France east to the Black Sea and north to the southern shores of the Baltic. In the south found along the north Mediterranean coast east to the Adriatic but very patchy in Greece, also on all major islands including Crete and Cyprus. Rare and local in Israel, Syria and Iraq. In North Africa breeds in Morocco, northern Algeria and Tunisia, also on the Egyptian coast and in the Nile Delta and Valley. Also breeds on Madeira, the Canary Islands and Cape Verde Islands.
All populations are resident but there is some dispersal of juveniles and vagrants have occurred in Jan Mayen, Norway, Finland and Estonia, also on the Azores.
Also widespread in the Americas, Africa, Asia and Australia.
Taxonomy
About 8 races have been described from the Western Palearctic. Some are separable on marked differences in plumage and others on range. Nominate alba from Western and Southern Europe and the Western Canary Islands is pale above and white below, while guttata from Central and Eastern Europe (has also been recorded from Britain) is much greyer above and buff to chestnut below. T. a. ernesti from Corsica and Sardinia resembles alba but is even paler above as is the large race erlangeri from North Africa, Arabia, Crete and Cyprus which also differs in its bare tarsi and toes. The main African race, affinis intergrades with erlangeri in southern Egypt and resembles guttata but is larger with deeper colouration and more heavily marked upperparts. The Madeiran race schmitzi resembles affinis but is smaller with more distinctly spotted and darker underparts, gracilirostris from Fuertaventura, Lanzarote and Allegranza in the eastern Canary Islands is very similar but even darker below and has more slender bill and legs. Confined to Cape Verde Islands is the race detorta, like guttata but deeper orange below and more distinctly spotted above with thinly feathered legs.
Many other races exists in the remaining part of its range. Race detorta may warrent species recognition, as also possible for some other races (e.g. deroepstorffi from the Andamans). Closely related to, and sometimes considered to include, the Ashy-faced Owl from the West Indies. Comment: Handbook of Birds of the World describes that the subspecies from Australia and the US refuse to interbreed even when artificially brought together on the same island, instead both going extinct. It therefore seems certain that more species are involved, it is just uncertain where the dividing lines should be drawn.
Habitat
Open country with some trees or rocky outcrops for nesting. In Europe now found mainly on farmland with copses, areas of rough grassland and hedgerows. Often nest in old farm buildings, churches and ruins.
Behaviour
The diet includes small vertebrates, particularly rodents and is supplemented with small vertebrate and large invertebrate life.
Typical nest sites include tree stumps and cliff crevices, and 4-7 eggs are laid and incubated for 33 days. The male helps feed the young and the chicks can fly after 9-12 weeks.
Vocalisation
<flashmp3>Tyto alba (song).mp3</flashmp3>
Listen in an external program
