The Siau scops owl (''Otus siaoensis'') is a critically endangered

owl Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...

species. They live on

Siau Island Siau is an island in North Sulawesi, Indonesia, located in the Sangir Archipelago approximately off the northern tip of Sulawesi in the Celebes Sea. Covering a land area of 160 km2, it is the main island of the Sitaro Islands Regency of North ...

, north of Sulawesi, Indonesia and are (were) forest dwellers. The species is only known from a single

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of seve ...

from 1866 although there have been some local reports in recent years. Even so, their habitat is being lost to excessive logging of the forest on the island and there would be very few if any individuals left. The taxonomic arrangement for this owl has not been fully worked out. While recognized as a distinct species by the

IOC The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental Sports governing body, sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an associ ...

, others consider it as a subspecies of either the

Sulawesi scops owl The Sulawesi scops owl (''Otus manadensis'') is an owl found on the Sulawesi island of Indonesia. The Banggai scops owl (''Otus mendeni'') was formerly considered conspecific, but was split as a distinct species by the IOC The Interna ...

Moluccan scops owl The Moluccan scops owl (''Otus magicus'') is an owl found in the Maluku and Lesser Sunda Islands of Indonesia. It closely resembles the Rinjani scops owl. The following subspecies are recognised: * ''O. m. kalidupae'' ( Hartert, EJO, 1903) - ...

References

External links

BirdLife Species Factsheet

Red Data Book
Otus (bird) Endemic birds of Sulawesi Critically endangered fauna of Asia Birds described in 1873 Taxa named by Hermann Schlegel Species known from a single specimen {{strigiformes-stub