The Eurasian scops owl (''Otus scops''), also known as the European scops owl or just scops owl, is a small owl in the typical owl family

Strigidae The true owls or typical owls (family Strigidae) are one of the two generally accepted families of owls, the other being the barn owls (Tytonidae). This large family comprises 230 living or recently extinct species in 24 genera. The typical ow ...

. Its breeding range extends from southern Europe eastwards to southern Siberia and the western Himalayas. It is migratory, wintering in Africa south of the Sahara.

Taxonomy

The Eurasian scops owl was formally described by Swedish naturalist

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, ...

in 1758 in the tenth edition of his ''

Systema Naturae ' (originally in Latin written ' with the ligature æ) is one of the major works of the Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and introduced the Linnaean taxonomy. Although the system, now known as binomial nom ...

''. Linnaeus cited the 1599 description by the Italian naturalist

Ulisse Aldrovandi Ulisse Aldrovandi (11 September 1522 – 4 May 1605) was an Italian naturalist, the moving force behind Bologna's botanical garden, one of the first in Europe. Carl Linnaeus and the comte de Buffon reckoned him the father of natural history s ...

, placed it with all the other owls in the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

'' Strix'' and coined the

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''Strix scops''. The Eurasian scops owl is now placed in the genus '' Otus'' that was introduced in 1769 by Welsh naturalist

Thomas Pennant Thomas Pennant (14 June OS 172616 December 1798) was a Welsh naturalist, traveller, writer and antiquarian. He was born and lived his whole life at his family estate, Downing Hall near Whitford, Flintshire, in Wales. As a naturalist he had ...

. The genus name is derived from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

' meaning "eared owl". The specific epithet ''scops'' is from the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

word ''skōps'' for a little eared owl. Five subspecies are recognised: * ''O. s. scops'' (

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, t ...

, 1758) – France and Italy to the Caucasus area * ''O. s. mallorcae'' von Jordans, 1923 – Iberian Peninsula, Balearic Islands and northwest Africa * ''O. s. cycladum'' ( Tschusi, 1904) – southern Greece and Crete to southern Turkey, Syria and Jordan * ''O. s. turanicus'' ( Loudon, 1905) – Iraq to northwest Pakistan * ''O. s. pulchellus'' ( Pallas, 1771) – Kazakhstan to southern Siberia and western Himalayas

Description

The Eurasian scops owl is in length with a wingspan of . This is somewhat smaller than the

little owl The little owl (''Athene noctua''), also known as the owl of Athena or owl of Minerva, is a bird that inhabits much of the temperate and warmer parts of Europe, the Palearctic east to Korea, and North Africa. It was introduced into Britain at ...

(''Athene noctua''). It perches upright and shows small ear-tufts. The plumage is predominantly grey-brown in colour, with a paler face, underparts and shoulder line. This species has a strong direct flight on long narrow wings, reflecting its migratory habits. The call is a deep whistle given by both sexes. It is similar to the call of midwife toads in the genus '' Alytes''.

Distribution and habitat

This bird breeds in southern Europe eastwards into western and central Asia. It is migratory, wintering in southernmost Europe and sub-

Sahara , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

n Africa. It was spotted in Newtown area near

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

for a brief period during October 2021. It was the first sighting in eastern

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

. It is rare any distance north of its breeding range, usually occurring as a spring overshoot. It is unlikely that this nocturnal owl would be found outside the breeding season when it is not calling.

Behaviour

Breeding

Eurasian scops owls breed in open woodland, parks and gardens. The nest is usually a hole in a tree or in a wall, but can sometimes be an old nest of another species such as a crow. The clutch is usually 4 or 5 eggs. These are white and measure and weigh around . The eggs are incubated only by the female. They hatch after 24-25 days. The young are cared for and fed by both parents. They fledge when aged 21–29 days and become independent of their parents at 30–40 days of age.

Diet

It takes small prey such as

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

s and other invertebrates. It is largely

nocturnal Nocturnality is an ethology, animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatures generally have ...

References

Sources

External links

* * {{Authority control Otus (bird) Birds of Eurasia Birds described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus