The Sulawesi masked owl (''Tyto rosenbergii'') is a species of

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 ...

in the family

Tytonidae The bird family Tytonidae, which includes the barn owls ''Tyto'' and the bay owls ''Phodilus'', is one of the two Family (biology), families of owls, the other being the true owls or typical owls, True owl, Strigidae. They are medium to large owl ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

n islands of

Sulawesi Sulawesi ( ), also known as Celebes ( ), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the List of islands by area, world's 11th-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Min ...

, Sangihe and Peleng. It is listed by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

as being of

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

Taxonomy

The Sulawesi masked owl was first described by the German

ornithologist Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

Hermann Schlegel Hermann Schlegel (10 June 1804 – 17 January 1884) was a German ornithologist, herpetologist and ichthyologist. Early life and education Schlegel was born at Altenburg, the son of a brassfounder. His father collected butterflies, which stimulated ...

in 1866 as ''Strix rosenbergii'', but was later included in the genus ''

Tyto ''Tyto'' is a genus of owls in the family Tytonidae. Depending on the species and the locality, common names include barn owl, common barn owl, grass owl, sooty owl, masked owl, field owl or simply owl. It is the most widely distributed genus o ...

''. The specific name "rosenbergii" refers to the German surveyor and naturalist Hermann von Rosenberg who collected bird specimens in the East Indies and sent them to the

National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. With 4.4 ...

Leiden Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...

to be classified. There are two subspecies, ''T. r. rosenbergii'' (Schlegel, 1866), found in

and Sangihe, and ''T. r. pelengensis'' Neumann, 1939, found in Peleng in the Banggai Island group. Other common names for this bird include Rosenberg's owl, Rosenberg's barn-owl, Sulawesi owl, Sulawesi barn-owl, Celebes barn-owl, Celebes masked-owl and Celebes owl.

Description

The Sulawesi masked owl grows to a length of about . The upperparts of the male are charcoal grey with scattered white spots and streaks. The underparts are buff with dark spots and streaks and the facial mask is white or whitish-brown. The call is an eerie, long drawn-out screech and is usually emitted in flight.

Ecology

Little is known of the ecology of the Sulawesi masked owl. It hunts at night in secondary forest, agricultural land, grassland and open country. Examination of pellets regurgitated by this owl in a cave showed that the diet includes rats and shrews. This owl is commonly encountered in cultivated areas and scrubland on early morning visits to the Gunung Ambang Nature Reserve in the north of Sulawesi.

Status

The Sulawesi masked owl has a wide range and although the size of its population is unknown, its numbers are believed to be stable. This species has a widespread occurrence in Sulawesi, Sangihe and Peneng, but is not particularly common and the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

lists it as being of "

" in its

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q766922 Birds described in 1866 Endemic birds of Sulawesi Owls of Asia Tyto Taxonomy articles created by Polbot