The Sokoke scops owl (''Otus ireneae'') is a highly localized species of

scops owl Scops owls are typical owls in family Strigidae belonging to the genus ''Otus'' and are restricted to the Old World. ''Otus'' is the largest genus of owls with 59 species. Scops owls are colored in various brownish hues, sometimes with a lighter ...

found in lowland forests of

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and

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

. The greatest population of this species of owl is in the '' Cynometra-

Manilkara ''Manilkara'' is a genus of trees in the family Sapotaceae. They are widespread in tropical and semitropical locations, in Africa, Madagascar, Asia, Australia, and Latin America, as well as various islands in the Pacific and in the Caribbean. A ...

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

, which is less than one-third of the Sokoke Forest. It is also found in the '' Afzelia-Cynometra'' forest. The Sokoke scops owl can grow to , and can weigh up to , and is the smallest of the scops owls. It is

insectivorous A robber fly eating a hoverfly An insectivore is a carnivorous animal or plant that eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which can also refer to the human practice of eating insects. The first vertebrate insectivores were ...

and coloring ranges from grey to rufous.

Description

Sokoke scops owl pair in Arabuko-Sokoke Forest

Sokoke scops owl is a fairly plain scops owl with small spotted markings on the underside. They are found in a number of color morphs ranging from grey through brown to an orange-rufous. Their call consists of a repetitive "too-too-too-too-too" reminiscent of the calls of

tinkerbird The tinkerbirds or tinker barbets are the genus ''Pogoniulus'' of the Lybiidae, the African barbet family of near passerines, which was formerly included in the Capitonidae and sometimes in the Ramphastidae. Tinkerbirds are widely distributed in ...

s. Males have a higher-pitched, louder and clearer call compared to females, which have a softer, muffled, low-pitched call. They are territorial and pairs may duet in response to intruding conspecifics. The calling intensity of spontaneously calling owls varies with the time of night and phase of the moon.

Distribution

Sokoke scops owl have a highly restricted range in coastal Kenya and north-eastern Tanzania. It was first discovered in 1965 in the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest Reserve in coastal Kenya. Two other isolated populations have been subsequently discovered in the Dakatcha woodlands in Kenya and in the Manga and Kwamgumi forest reserves in the lowlands of the East Usambara mountains, Tanzania. Its global range is not thought to exceed 500 km². Other isolated populations of this species may still persist in unsurveyed patches of suitable habitat.

Habitat

Sokoke scops owl has very specific habitat requirements of undisturbed lowland forest. In the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest Reserve, it only occurs in forest dominated by '' Brachylaena'' and ''Cynometra'', despite the presence of other forest types. It is thought that holes in ''Brachylaena'' trees provide suitable nesting sites for the owls and their removal may be responsible for population declines.

Conservation

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

places the Sokoke scops owl as globally

Endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...

on its Red List. Its dependence on undisturbed forest means that it is threatened by human disturbance such as logging, fires and encroachment. Suitable climatic conditions are predicted to shift southwards as the climate changes and be completely lost in the Usambaras by 2080. The isolation of suitable forest patches that are surrounded by human-modified habitats means that they risk extinction. Increasing populations of African elephants in the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest Reserve may also affect their populations through habitat degradation. Habitat restoration and

translocation Translocation may refer to: * Chromosomal translocation, a chromosome abnormality caused by rearrangement of parts ** Robertsonian translocation, a chromosomal rearrangement in pairs 13, 14, 15, 21, and 22 ** Nonreciprocal translocation, transfer ...

to other suitable habitat patches have been suggested as potential conservation interventions that may help prevent their extinction. Call surveys conducted in 2005 and 2008 in the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest Reserve place the population size of the reserve at 800 pairs. Densities in 1997 in the East Usambaras ranged from less than 1.5 pairs/km² to 3 or 4 pairs/km², and the population is estimated to be markedly smaller than the Arabuko-Sokoke population.

Behaviour

Like other ''Otus'' owls, they are strictly

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

, making their biology difficult to study. They are most active immediately after dark and before dawn and travel further from their roost sites to forage when there is less illumination from the moon. They roost in the dense understory of ''Cynometra'' trees during the day. The mean home-range of a pair is 11 ha and there is very little overlap with neighboring pairs.

Diet

Pellet samples show that they feed almost exclusively on medium-sized insects across a wide range of orders, with the predominant prey type likely dependent on availability at the time.

Beetle Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

s (Coleoptera) and crickets (

Orthoptera Orthoptera () is an order of insects that comprises the grasshoppers, locusts, and crickets, including closely related insects, such as the bush crickets or katydids and wētā. The order is subdivided into two suborders: Caelifera – grassho ...

) appear to be consumed the most.

References

BirdLife Species Factsheet
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1270124 Sokoke scops owl Birds of East Africa Sokoke scops owl Sokoke scops owl Taxa named by Sidney Dillon Ripley