Taliabu Masked Owl

The Taliabu Barn Owl (Tyto nigrobrunnea ) is a rare species of owl in the family of barn owls, which is endemic to the belonging to the Sula Islands Indonesian island of Sulawesi Taliabu east. She was 1938-1991 as missing.

Features

A description is available only from a female specimen copy that has been collected on Taliabu 1938 and is now home to the Museum of Zoology Dresden. The size is 31 inches, the wing length of 283 mm and tail length of 125 mm. The weight is not known. The underside is dark brown. From head to the back of the back and the wing-coverts whitish patches can be seen. The primaries are uniformly dark brown and unmarked. The secondaries are mostly brown with white tips. The tail is brown with three darker bandages. The face veil is light reddish brown and is darker towards the eyes. The spring ring has almost the same color. The bottom is deep golden brown with dark spots, some of which have bright areas. The legs are covered with feathers reddish brown to the bottom third of the run. The eyes are dark brown. The beak is black and gray. The featherless areas of the barrel and the toes are gray. The powerful claws are blackish. The habit of the young birds is unknown.

Habitat

The voucher specimen was collected in the lowland forest. The rediscovery in 1991, a copy during the night near Tubang was observed in the northeast Taliabus in a selectively chosen lowland forest.

Way of life

About the lifestyle of Taliabu Barn Owl is not known. Their food habits are probably similar to the related species.

Inventory and risk

The Taliabu Barn Owl was long known only from the type specimen from 1938, before it was rediscovered in October 1991. Population data do not exist. BirdLife International estimates the stock to 250 to 1000 copies and classified the species as " critically endangered " ( endangered ). The main threat comes from deforestation, which is operated on Taliabu in a big way. Most of the lowland forests below 800 meters Taliabus is designated for logging concessions the timber industry. The selective logging has already created a mosaic of forest stands of different ages, with only a few large areas have been preserved from primary lowland forests. The effects of habitat destruction on the way are not known, but the forest destruction poses a significant threat