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The black-banded owl (''Strix huhula'') is a species of owl in the family
Strigidae The true owls or typical owls (family (biology), family Strigidae) are one of the two generally accepted families of owls, the other being the barn owls and bay owls (Tytonidae). This large family comprises 230 living or recently extinct species ...
. Entirely nocturnal, this midsized black and white neotropical bird is a resident species, and therefore never migrates out of its native South America. Its natural
habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...
s are varied subtropical or tropical forests ranging from lowlands to areas of medium altitude, and it has been found in
Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
,
Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...
,
Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
,
Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...
,
Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...
,
French Guiana French Guiana, or Guyane in French, is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies. Bordered by Suriname to the west ...
,
Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...
,
Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...
,
Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...
,
Suriname Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...
, and
Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...
.


Description

The black-banded owl is medium-sized (), blackish all over and densely striated with horizontal, wavy, white bars. A black face mask encircle its eyes. It has a rounded head with no ear tufts, and a yellow-orange bill and feet. The tail is sooty-brown, with 4 to 5 narrow white bars and a white terminal band. Primary feathers are significantly darker than the rest of its plumage. Black bristles and feathers are found around the bill and along the leg to the base of the toes.


Taxonomy

The taxonomy of the black-banded owl is unclear on several points. Some authors include it in the genus '' Ciccaba'', (medium-sized wood owls found in South-America) along with the black-and-white Owl (''Ciccaba nigrolineata''), mottled Owl (''Ciccaba virgata''), and rufous-banded Owl (''Ciccaba albitarsis''). However, others include all ''Ciccaba'' species to the genus '' Strix''. Furthermore, there is some debate on whether or not the black-banded Owl and the black-and-white owl are the same species. Some posit they are, due to their vocalizations being alike and the fact that they respond to the other's calls. Others claim that they are unlikely to be the same species, seeing as the vocalizations of Black-banded and Black-and-white owls are different even when their range is overlapping. There are two recognized subspecies; * ''S. h. huhula'' who is distributed mostly in northern and central South-America. * ''S. h. albomarginata'' who inhabits mainly south-eastern Brazil, eastern Paraguay and the adjacent areas of north-eastern Argentina.


Habitat and distribution


Habitat

Black-banded owls are mostly found below an elevation of , with rare records of them at up to . They inhabit various types of forests throughout the South-American landscape, mostly tropical and subtropical forests. In Ecuador they were almost exclusively recorded in the humid forest of the North-East, they were also found in the
Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...
, igapò, and terra-firme forests of Brazil, ''Araucaria'' forests, and man-made or disturbed habitats, such as clearings, agricultural land and suburban areas.


Distribution

The black-banded owl is difficult to detect and is one of the least known
Strigidae The true owls or typical owls (family (biology), family Strigidae) are one of the two generally accepted families of owls, the other being the barn owls and bay owls (Tytonidae). This large family comprises 230 living or recently extinct species ...
in South-America. Their population size has not been assessed, but it is described as a relatively common bird, although it is patchily distributed. Few sightings have been recorded, but their range extends in all likelihood from the south of Colombia to south-eastern Argentina and Brazil. The difficulty in detecting the black-banded owl is well illustrated by the fact that ''S. h. albomarginata'' has only been found a handful of times in recent years in the Atlantic forest of Brasil and Paraguay, and only twice until 2012 in the Ecuadorian Podocarpus National Park. In the region of Minas Gerais, Brazil, a black banded owl was only sighted a second time 170 years after it was first recorded. Similarly, only historical reports without supporting evidence existed in Paraguay before 1995. This species was also found to be the least abundant of large owls in the
Misiones province Misiones (, ''Missions'') is one of the Provinces of Argentina, 23 provinces of Argentina, located in the northeastern corner of the country in the Mesopotamia, Argentina, Mesopotamia region. It is surrounded by Paraguay to the northwest, Brazil ...
of Argentina.


Behaviour


Vocalization

The
song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...
of the male black-banded owl consists of a phrase of changing hoots. The typical rhythm is composed of 3-4 deep guttural notes, followed by a pause of about 0.6 seconds, and ending with one or two louder and shorter hoots. This ''wobobo whúo'' or ''wobobo whúo hú'' song increases gradually in volume and pitch. The female sings a slightly higher-pitched version of this. Many new vocalizations are heard during the nesting period, including 2 types of screeches and new calls. Around the nest, males have been recorded calling to their mate with six or seven descending notes with females answering with the same call or with 1-, 2-, or 3-notes. This descending call was only heard during nesting, but the 1-, 2-, or 3-note call was heard in other circumstances.


Diet

Little information is available on the food habits of this species, but bats have been found in the stomachs of adult birds and they have been observed eating and feeding moths to their nestlings. The black-and-white owl, the closest relative of the black-banded owl, has been seen capturing large insects, such as beetles (mostly scarabaeid, curculionid and cerambycid), grasshoppers ( Acrididae), and cockroaches ( Blattidae). As for vertebrate prey, they fed on bats (primarily ''Artibeus jamaicens'') while Mottled Owls, another ''Ciccaba'' species, ate predominantly small rodents.


Reproduction

Not much is known either on the reproduction of black-banded owls. The first description of nesting was reported in 2013. It reported that during the incubation period, from September to November, the egg was incubated all day and almost all night, being left alone only for short bouts of 5–10 min. The same behaviour was observed for at least three weeks following hatching. It is assumed that the female did all the incubation and
brooding Broodiness is the action or behavioral tendency to sit on a clutch of eggs to Egg incubation, incubate them, often requiring the non-expression of many other behaviors including feeding and drinking.Homedes Ranquini, J. y Haro-García, F. Zoogen� ...
, congruous with all other owl species studied so far. Both parents actively defended their nest, and the breeding pair most likely excluded other owl species from the center of their territory. Similar to other Ciccaba and Strix owls, the black-banded owl has a clutch size of one nestling, and the nest was situated among forked branches and not in a cavity. Black-banded owls can use the same tree fork for their nest in following years, however they may not breed consecutively.


References


External links


Range Map and Song
– Cornell lab of Ornithology
Black-banded Owl Video
– Owl is shown vocalizing
Ebird Range MapPhoto Gallery
{{Taxonbar, from=Q169464, from2=Q27865555, from3= black-banded owl Birds of the Amazon rainforest Birds of the Guiana Shield Birds of Bolivia Birds of the Atlantic Forest black-banded owl Birds of Brazil Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN