Cebu Boobook Ninox rumseyi Scientific name definitions

c. 25 cm. Round-headed, white-throated owl with only short filamentous extensions on ear-coverts, rather marked and dense pattern on upperparts, weak bars or just some dark speckles on underparts , and whitish on vent and undertail-coverts . Head mostly dark brown, duller and weakly marked with indistinct paler spots on face, the cap marked with rows of buffy speckles giving it a barred or spotted appearance, the same colours on side of head and neck but the pattern may look rather blurrily streaked; in frontal view head and neck form a hood contrasting with paler ventral body and most strongly so with obvious white patch over throat (may be mostly concealed in some postures ), rather short pale superciliary stripes may be rather indistinct but are often conspicuous and white; rest of upperparts dark brown densely and narrowly barred with buff to tawny-buff, this pattern sometimes weak on lower mantle, the outer scapulars largely white with narrow dark brown edging and some warm buff between white and dark brown areas; upperwing-coverts  as back, the greater and some outer median coverts usually more strongly marked with pale buff to white bars, remiges and tertials mostly dark dull brown, the buff notchlike markings on exposed outer webs forming narrow wingbars, inner webs weakly barred; underwing-coverts mostly pinkish-buff to fulvous with very dark spots or short bars, remiges and greater primary coverts dark brownish with distinct buffy barring, those bars becoming narrower and obscure on distal half of remiges; tail also dark brownish with buffy bars; chest down to flanks and belly pinkish-buff to rusty-brown with weak and irregular dark brownish short broken bars, sometimes also with some whitish streaks, or rather plain (diffusely blotchy) with just some dark speckling, the vent and undertail-coverts white to pale buff with a few dull brown speckles; iris lemon-yellow to olive-yellow; bill dull olive, yellower along culmen and at tip; half-unfeathered tarsi and feet ochre-yellow with mostly black claws. More contrastingly patterned above and on head than N. (philippensis) spilonota; most similar to N. (philippensis) mindorensis but much larger and with more widely-spaced bars or rather plain on underparts.

Recently described species, differing from N. philippensis and other close congeners (see N. philippensis) in voice, plumage and morphometrics (1 Rasmussen, P.C., Allen, D.N.S., Collar, N.J., DeMeulemeester, B., Hutchinson, R.O., Jakosalem, P.G.C., Kennedy, R.S., Lambert, F.R. and Paguntalan, L.M. (2012). Vocal divergence and new species in the Philippine Hawk Owl Ninox philippensis complex. Forktail. 28: 1–20. Close ). Type of present species, the sole known specimen in existence, was previously labelled as (and included within) “N. philippensis spilonota”. Monotypic.

Cebu, in C Philippines.

Forest of various types; no preferences obvious for interior or edge, gulley or ridge, patch size or canopy height; occasional records in areas of pure plantation. Foraging and roosting sites show similar structure, from interior to edge of forest, sometimes occurring near clearings and farms. Two nests recorded, both from Alcoy Forest, below 700 m; these were very near farmland clearings in small patches of forest used by people for gathering firewood; one was in an area of secondary plantation. A possible factor in presence or absence of species was found to be extent to which wind affects forest; if genuine, this would clearly influence overall population size.

Probably sedentary.

Recorded prey items include: rats; small birds, such as sunbirds (Nectariniidae), flowerpeckers (Dicaeidae), tits (Paridae) and flycatchers; colubrid snakes, agamid lizards, skinks and geckos; frogs and toads; cicadas (Cicadidae), mantises (Mantidae), moths (Lepidoptera), stick-insects (Phasmida) and crickets (Gryllidae) (2 Jakosalem, P.G.C., Collar, N.J. and Gill, J.A. (2013). Habitat selection and conservation status of the endemic Ninox hawk-owl on Cebu, Philippines. Bird Conservation International. 23(3): 360–370. Close ).

Medium-pitched, irregular strophes delivered rapidly and irregularly with multiple note types . Song  highly variable in rhythm and note type, although most notes are of two main types, gruff staccato chucks and plaintive short downslurs; less often metallic treefrog-like upslurred abrupt “bwick!” notes, sometimes several in quick succession; also low clear abrupt “duit!” bell-tones, sometimes quickly doubled; and hoarse white-noise screeches lasting c. 0·6 s. Duets are medium-length strophes starting with several low soft “djuk” and “gwick” notes, moving into “djuk, Kyeur-gwuck, djuk, Kyeur-gwuck”, etc., fading out after c. 30 s and then starting again after a pause of a few seconds. Non-duetted strophes are long series of short “Kyeur” notes separated by short pauses, moving into “djuk, Kyeur_djuk, Kyeur...” series and even more complex versions. Vocalizations  generally most similar to those of N. (philippensis) spilonota, but song much faster, though relatively low-pitched, and lacking the long pauses between notes within a strophe that are typical of spilonota; also shows similarities to N. (philippensis) mindorensis.

Eggs found in early May. Breeding pair occupies c. 10 ha of forest (possibly more, if areas used by each sex do not fully coincide). Two nests recorded were in natural cavities c. 10×20 cm, situated c. 2–2·5 m above ground in main trunks of tall trees (13 m and 20 m in height); one nest was in a live Melanolepis multiglandulosa, a native pioneer tree species with fairly soft wood; the other was in a dead standing Vitex parviflora, a tree with harder wood than Melanolepis. One nest contained 2 eggs. No further details available.

ENDANGERED. Restricted-range species: present in Cebu EBA. Rediscovered in 1998 after gap of 110 years. Remaining forest on Cebu now amounts to just 11 patches, totalling 17 km² (c. 0·3% of total area of Cebu). The five largest forest patches, Tabunan, Dalaguete, Boljoon, Argao or Mt Lantoy, and Alcoy Forests were surveyed in Mar–Jun 2011; in these five forests, overall 52 owls were detected in forest interior, forest edge and forest/plantation, extrapolated to an estimated total population size of 130–200 pairs or 260–400 mature individuals. Continuing deterioration and loss of remaining forest fragments owing to encroachment, timber-poaching and fuelwood gathering (2 Jakosalem, P.G.C., Collar, N.J. and Gill, J.A. (2013). Habitat selection and conservation status of the endemic Ninox hawk-owl on Cebu, Philippines. Bird Conservation International. 23(3): 360–370. Close ). Availability of suitable nest-holes may be a limiting factor; provision of nest-boxes might be a valid option, as long as it does not lead to increased pressure of predators on other rare species.