Sandy Scops-Owl Otus icterorhynchus Scientific name definitions

18–20 cm (1 König, C., F. Weick, and J.-H. Becking (2008). Owls of the World. Second Edition. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ); 61–80 g (sexes not stated) (1 König, C., F. Weick, and J.-H. Becking (2008). Owls of the World. Second Edition. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Fairly small scops-owl with head and upperparts cinnamon-brown with bars and spots of buff and white, and conspicuous white scapular stripe; ear tufts small for Otus; facial disc cinnamon, with pale eyebrows; primaries barred white, secondaries barred dark brown; tail cinnamon with incomplete rufous bars; underparts cinnamon-rufous, with few dark shaft streaks on breast, abdomen more heavily spotted. Irides pale yellow; bill and cere creamy-yellow; toes pinkish-cream tinged with yellowish (1 König, C., F. Weick, and J.-H. Becking (2008). Owls of the World. Second Edition. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Much individual variation in tone of rufous and markings. Juvenile similar to adult, but less heavily marked, finer bars above and less streaked below. Race holerythrus slightly larger than nominate (wing length 129–144 mm versus 117–134 mm (1 König, C., F. Weick, and J.-H. Becking (2008). Owls of the World. Second Edition. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ) ), more deep rufous, less streaked on breast, lacks white spots on outer webs of greater coverts (1 König, C., F. Weick, and J.-H. Becking (2008). Owls of the World. Second Edition. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

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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.

Lowland evergreen forest and forest edge; in Liberia, recorded in high forest, including logged areas, and also in forest-shrub-grassland mosaic; in N Congo, recently reported from open-canopy forest. From sea-level to 1000 m in elevation (1 König, C., F. Weick, and J.-H. Becking (2008). Owls of the World. Second Edition. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

Presumably sedentary (1 König, C., F. Weick, and J.-H. Becking (2008). Owls of the World. Second Edition. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

No quantitative information (1 König, C., F. Weick, and J.-H. Becking (2008). Owls of the World. Second Edition. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Stomach contents of collected specimens included crickets and grasshoppers. Captive bird consumed only insects, taken at dawn and dusk but not during night.

Poorly known (1 König, C., F. Weick, and J.-H. Becking (2008). Owls of the World. Second Edition. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Said to give a single drawn-out whistle, “wheeoo”, up to 1 second long, dropping in pitch and volume, given at intervals of a few seconds (2 Borrow, N. and R. Demey (2010). Birds of Ghana. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). May respond to call of Bubo poensis.

Detailed information unknown. Possibly lays Feb–Mar; nestling found in DR Congo in May and juveniles in Cameroon in Apr (1 König, C., F. Weick, and J.-H. Becking (2008). Owls of the World. Second Edition. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ); in Liberia (Mt Nimba), 2 males in Jun/Jul had small gonads, and female in Sept had enlarging ovaries. Presumably nests in tree cavities.

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). CITES II. A very poorly known species that appears to be rare throughout its fragmented range; only a handful of specimens known, including 2 each from Ghana and Cameroon, and 4 from Liberia (3 Dickerman, R. W., W. P. Cane, M. F. Carter, A. Chapman, and C. G. Schmitt (1994). Report on three collections of birds from Liberia. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 114(4):267–274. Close ). Assessment of status difficult, owing to its poorly documented distribution and biology. In Liberia, found to be present in all forest areas where intensive study has taken place, and thought to be probably not uncommon.