Mantanani Scops-Owl Otus mantananensis Scientific name definitions

c. 18 cm (1 König, C., F. Weick, and J.-H. Becking (2008). Owls of the World. Second Edition. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ); c. 100–110 g. Smallish scops-owl with brownish and rufous morphs. Facial disc pale buffish with distinct, thin dark border, and narrow whitish eyebrows ; crown and short ear-tufts spotted dark, hindneck with black triangular spots; upperparts generally dark brown, mottled with black, with complex shaft streaks; outer webs of scapulars whitish; flight-feathers and tail barred pale; underparts much paler (perhaps even whitish) and peppered with black streaks and broken cross-lines, breast with variable rufous tinge; irides yellow; bill greyish-horn; toes pale greyish-brown (1 König, C., F. Weick, and J.-H. Becking (2008). Owls of the World. Second Edition. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ); tarsus almost fully feathered. Juvenile of nominate race not described; sibutuensis whitish, heavily barred dark brown, crown and breast plainer brown, more prominent barring on tertials and tail. Races differ in plumage tone, paler, more grey or more rufous: romblonis with general rufous tinge, nearly unbarred tertials and upper­tail, heavily marked below; sibutuensis usually dull brown with irregular, subdued markings, reduced pale colour on scapulars; cuyensis large, with conspicuous black streaking.

Editor's Note: This article requires further editing work to merge existing content into the appropriate Subspecies sections. Please bear with us while this update takes place.

Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Forest, woodland, coconut groves (2 Allen, D. (2006). New records and other observations of birds on the island of Tablas, Romblon province, Philippines. Forktail 22:77–84. Close ) and casuarina trees; hunts at edges of wood, in clearings and among secondary growth. Lowlands and foothills.

Resident throughout range.

Apparently mostly insects.

Male generally a deep, nasal, goose-like honk , repeated at intervals of c. 5–6 seconds; this often followed by 3–6 or more lower-pitched gruff notes, possibly from duetting female (although female Otus usually have slightly higher voice).

Few records suggest nesting occurs Jan–May (1 König, C., F. Weick, and J.-H. Becking (2008). Owls of the World. Second Edition. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Presumably nests in tree cavity, but nest with two eggs seen on Tablas I on 29 Mar 2002 was placed at base of leaf in crown of coconut palm (2 Allen, D. (2006). New records and other observations of birds on the island of Tablas, Romblon province, Philippines. Forktail 22:77–84. Close ). No other information.

Not globally threatened. Currently considered Near Threatened. CITES II. Restricted-range species: present in Sulu Archipelago EBA and Palawan EBA. Noted as common on Mantanani I in forest and coconut plantations; no data from elsewhere. Global population estimated to contain 6000–15,000 individuals, with numbers likely declining. Destruction of forest could be long-term threat, but some reports that species generally found away from tracts of undisturbed forest, and also near farmland areas, may indicate ability of at least some races to tolerate human-altered habitats.