Family Typical Owls (Strigidae)
Near Threatened
Mentawai Scops-owl (Otus mentawi)
Taxonomy
French: Petit-duc des Mentawai German: Mentawi-Zwergohreule Spanish: Autillo de las Mentawai
Taxonomy:
Otus bakkamœna mentawi
Chasen and Kloss
, 1926,Sipora Island, Sumatra
.Distribution:
Mentawai Is (Siberut to South Pagai), off W Sumatra.
Descriptive notes
22 cm. Medium-sized scops-owl. Occurs in rufous-chestnut and blackish-brown morphs. Prominent ear-tufts and eyebrows whitish with dark mottling; upperparts blackish brown... read more
Voice
Male gives series of “po-po” calls, sometimes tripled, ending in descending sequence of... read more
Habitat
Lowland rainforest and secondary growth; swamp forest near coasts; sometimes near settlements,... read more
Food and feeding
Apparently insects including a grasshopper or katydid. Hunts from exposed perches in forest openings, cultivated land and scrub;... read more
Breeding
Nest undescribed. Two juveniles observed on Siberut in mid May, suggesting that incubation was in Mar and chicks were in the nest in Apr. read more
Movements
Presumably sedentary.
Status and conservation
Not globally threatened. Currently considered Near Threatened. CITES II. The only bird species endemic to the Mentawai Is. Status poorly known; appears to be rare and rather... read more
Traditionally considered to belong to species-group centred on O. bakkamoena (which see). Has sometimes been treated as conspecific with O. bakkamoena, O. lempiji, O. sunia or O. manadensis, but vocalizations distinct. Monotypic.