The Oriental bay owl (''Phodilus badius'') is a species of

bay owl The bay owls (''Phodilus'') are a genus of Old World owls in the family Tytonidae. The defining characteristics of bay owls are their smaller bodies, in comparison to the barn owls ''Tyto'' in the same family, and their U- or V-shaped faces. The ...

. It is completely

nocturnal Nocturnality is a ethology, behavior in some non-human animals characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatur ...

, and can be found throughout

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

and parts of

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. It has several subspecies. It has a heart-shaped face with earlike extensions. The

Congo bay owl The Itombwe owl (''Tyto prigoginei'') is a species of owl in the barn owl family, Tytonidae. It is restricted to a small area in the Albertine Rift montane forests of east-central Africa. Taxonomy and systematics The Itombwe owl was first descr ...

(''Phodilus prigoginei'') was formerly classified as a subspecies of Oriental bay owl due to insufficient knowledge, but it has turned out that it might not even belong to the same genus. The

Sri Lanka bay owl The Sri Lanka bay owl (''Phodilus assimilis'') is a species of bay owl in the family Tytonidae. It is endemic to the island of Sri Lanka and the Western Ghats in Kerala, South Western India. It was considered a subspecies of the Oriental bay ow ...

was also considered a subspecies. A population of this species has apparently become extinct on

Samar Island Samar ( ) is the third-largest and seventh-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 1,909,537 as of the 2020 census. It is located in the eastern Visayas, which are in the central Philippines. The island is divided in ...

in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

during the 20th century. It was described as ''Phodilus badius riverae'' and was only ever known from a single specimen, which was lost in a

bombing raid Strategic bombing is a systematically organized and executed military attack from the air which can utilize strategic bombers, long- or medium-range missiles, or nuclear-armed fighter-bomber aircraft to attack targets deemed vital to the enemy' ...

in 1945. The validity of this taxon is uncertain; it is usually synonymized with the nominate subspecies (for reasons of

biogeography Biogeography is the study of the species distribution, distribution of species and ecosystems in geography, geographic space and through evolutionary history of life, geological time. Organisms and biological community (ecology), communities o ...

) or the subspecies ''saturatus'' (from external appearance); it might have been a distinct species, however.

Taxonomy

Four subspecies are recognized:

Description

Individuals are small, with distinguishing features such as highly angular heads. The top and back half of their bodies are a deep chestnut color while the bottom of their bodies as well as their stomachs are a cream and tanish color. Oriental bay owls have large, striking black eyes which are highlighted due to the color contrast of their faces. Being that they are small and typically stand upright, they are very difficult to spot as they find comfort in their vast range of habitats. Their ability to

resonate Resonance is a phenomenon that occurs when an object or system is subjected to an external force or vibration whose frequency matches a resonant frequency (or resonance frequency) of the system, defined as a frequency that generates a maximu ...

is remarkable, for they not only hoot, but also scream and create high pitched

whistle A whistle is a musical instrument which produces sound from a stream of gas, most commonly air. It is a type of Fipple, fipple flute, and may be mouth-operated, or powered by air pressure, steam, or other means. Whistles vary in size from a s ...

songs. Their songs typically consist of four to seven melancholic whistles, lasting anywhere between two and eight seconds, and the pitch slightly increases towards the end. They sometimes alternate with a shorter whistle, that goes ''kleet-kleet-kleet'' or ''kleek-kleek-kleek'', when moving between places. Total body length is 22.5–29 cm, wing length 172-237 mm, and tail length 168-239 mm. The weight range is 255-308 g. Females are often larger than the males of this species.

Distribution

The Oriental bay owl is typically found and distributed throughout

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

Sikkim Sikkim ( ; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Koshi Province of Nepal in the west, and West Bengal in the ...

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

Nagaland Nagaland () is a States and union territories of India, state in the northeast India, north-eastern region of India. It is bordered by the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh to the north, Assam to the west, Manipur to the south, and the Naga Sel ...

Manipur Manipur () is a state in northeastern India with Imphal as its capital. It borders the Indian states of Assam to the west, Mizoram to the south, and Nagaland to the north and shares the international border with Myanmar, specifically t ...

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

and

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

, east to south

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, and south through the

Malay Peninsula The Malay Peninsula is located in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area contains Peninsular Malaysia, Southern Tha ...

to the

Greater Sundas The Greater Sunda Islands (Indonesian language, Indonesian and Malay language, Malay: ''Kepulauan Sunda Besar'') are four tropical islands situated within the Indonesian Archipelago, in the Pacific Ocean. The islands, Borneo, Java, Sulawesi and S ...

. They are most comfortable living in

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...

plantations Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tobacco ...

and

mangrove swamps A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have particular adaptations to take in extra oxygen and remove sal ...

at altitudes of up to , leading to them being scattered around

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

, the

and other parts of

Habitat and ecology

The Oriental bay owl is very scarcely known, even in its area of origin. It is prevalent in the tropical moist forests as well as in southeast Asia. The species can be seen in the tropical wet evergreen forest as high altitudes reaching heights of 1,040-1,050m above sea level. These sightings of the owl are rare and occurred between February and June 1998 in Sengaltheri, Tamil Nadu, India. Also located in the evergreen forest of India. There are not many in the population, and so they are not very well known. Their habitat is in two separate locations in India: northern in the Himalayan foothills and that general location, and in the southern areas, including the southern Western Ghats of Kerala/Tamil Nadu, as well as some areas of Sri Lanka (specifically the wetlands). This owl tends to be nocturnal and stays to itself. This owl tends to reside at high elevations ranging from 200m to a peak of 2300m according to area in which it lives. At the foothills it tends to stay at areas between 200–1,000m elevation, but due to destruction of many of the foothills/ forests in the area (caused by mankind), some of the owls reside at higher altitudes reaching the peak of 2,300m in montane forests.

Breeding habits

This species is caring towards their offspring; both the male and female care for their young. Incubation lasts for approximately 36–42 days and there is usually a 100 percent survival rate for the zygote. The babies are quick to develop and are protected by both parents. They are more protective of the nestlings (young chicks) than of the older chicks. They feed their offspring an assortment of lizards, frogs, rodents and on occasion, insects. Breeding time is usually from the months of March, April and May. The eggs tend to be laid between March and July. They tend to nest in hollowed out tree trunks as well as any other hole it can find. They can sometimes be found nesting in palms in Java. Around 3 to 5 eggs are laid; the appearance of the eggs are white and rather small. The measurements of the eggs on the oblong portion are around 38–40.6mm and on the smaller portion of the egg, the circumference is approximately 30–31 mm. Although both parents care for the offspring, only the mother incubates the egg starting at the 2 day mark. The father is the one who hunts and brings nourishment back for the offspring.

Diet

The Oriental bay owls prey upon small

rodents Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia ( ), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are n ...

bats Bats are flying mammals of the order Chiroptera (). With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most birds, flying with their very long spread-out ...

birds Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

snakes Snakes are elongated Limbless vertebrate, limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales much like other members of ...

frogs A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough skin texture due to ...

lizards Lizard is the common name used for all squamate reptiles other than snakes (and to a lesser extent amphisbaenians), encompassing over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The ...

magpies Magpies are birds of various species of the family Corvidae. Like other members of their family, they are widely considered to be intelligent creatures. The Eurasian magpie, for instance, is thought to rank among the world's most intelligent cr ...

and large arthropods such as

beetles Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...

grasshoppers Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are amongst what are possibly the most ancient living groups of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grassh ...

, and

spiders Spiders (order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight limbs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species di ...

. This species hunts from a perch and flies through trees in order to catch their prey. Due to their short and rounded wings, this makes hunting easier, especially by the water. Being that the owls find themselves most comfortable in

and parts of

, they are surrounded by a very humid and

tropical climate Tropical climate is the first of the five major climate groups in the Köppen climate classification identified with the letter A. Tropical climates are defined by a monthly average temperature of or higher in the coolest month, featuring hot te ...

. This offers the species an immense food source and trees to hunt from. The owl feeds its young an assortment of rodents, lizards and frogs when caring for them.

Teng, Liwei, et al. “A Preliminary Observation of Breeding Habits of Oriental Bay Owl.” A Preliminary Observation of Breeding Habits of Oriental Bay Owl--《Journal of Northeast Forestry University》2004年01期, 2004, http://en.cnki.com.cn/Article_en/CJFDTotal-DBLY200401012.htm

References

*Bruce, M. D. (1999): 15. Oriental Bay-owl. ''In:'' del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A. & Sargatal, J. (eds): ''

Handbook of Birds of the World The ''Handbook of the Birds of the World'' (HBW) is a multi-volume series produced by the Spanish publishing house Lynx Edicions in partnership with BirdLife International. It is the first handbook to cover every known living species of bird. ...

, Volume 5: Barn-owls to Hummingbirds'': 75, plate 3. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. * * *Teng, Liwei, et al. “A Preliminary Observation of Breeding Habits of Oriental Bay Owl.” A Preliminary Observation of Breeding Habits of Oriental Bay Owl--《Journal of Northeast Forestry University》2004年01期, 2004, http://en.cnki.com.cn/Article_en/CJFDTotal-DBLY200401012.htm

External links

*ARKive
images and movies of the Oriental bay owl ''(Phodilus badius)''Handbook of the Birds of the World
Phodilus, oriental bay owl Birds of Southeast Asia Birds of Yunnan Birds of Hainan

oriental bay owl The Oriental bay owl (''Phodilus badius'') is a species of bay owl. It is completely nocturnal, and can be found throughout Southeast Asia and parts of India. It has several subspecies. It has a heart-shaped face with earlike extensions. The Cong ...

{{Strigiformes-stub