The Mantanani scops owl (''Otus mantananensis''), is a small

owl Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...

in the scops-owl

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

''Otus'' found on small islands between

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...

and the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. It is listed by the IUCN as "

near threatened A near-threatened species is a species which has been categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as that may be vulnerable to endangerment in the near future, but it does not currently qualify f ...

" because its range is limited with its population being fragmented on several different islands, and its forest habitat is being degraded by ongoing logging and clearance.

Description and Taxonomy

This owl is about 18 cm long, with a wing length of about 15.5 cm. It has a buff facial disk with a narrow, dark border. It has dark brown upperparts with pale markings on the scapulars, and pale underparts with dark streaks and barring. It has yellow irides, grey feet and bill, and feathered tarsi. This owl hunts at the forest edge or in clearings, feeding mainly on

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three ...

s. It is thought to breed from March to May with its eggs being laid in a

tree hollow A tree hollow or tree hole is a semi-enclosed cavity which has naturally formed in the trunk or branch of a tree. They are found mainly in old trees, whether living or not. Hollows form in many species of trees, and are a prominent feature of nat ...

. The voice has been described as a simple ''waa'' and a goose-like honk, with a descending series of short ''wa''s during territorial disputes. The female's voice is lower and harsher than that of the male.

Subspecies

Four subspecies are recognized: * ''O. m. romblonis-'' Found in

Romblon Romblon ( , ), officially the Province of Romblon, is an archipelagic province of the Philippines located in the Mimaropa region. Its main islands include Tablas, the largest, which covers nine municipalities; Sibuyan with its three towns; as w ...

Tablas Island Tablas is the largest of the islands that comprise the province of Romblon in the Philippines. The name of the island was of Spanish origin. Before the colonization of the Philippines, Tablas was known as the Island of ''Osigan''. At the time of ...

, Semirara Island,

Sibuyan Island Sibuyan is a crescent-shaped island, the second largest in an archipelago comprising Romblon Province, Philippines. Located in the namesake Sibuyan Sea, it has an area of and has a total population of 62,815 as of 2020 census. The island has t ...

, Tres Reyes and Banton. * ''O. m. cuyensis -'' Found in Dicabaito, Linapacan and surrounding islands in the southern

Calamian Islands The Calamian Islands or the Calamianes is a group of islands in the province of Palawan, Philippines. It includes: * Busuanga Island * Coron Island * Culion Island * Calauit Island * Malcapuya Island * Banana Island * Pass Island * Calumbuyan I ...

* ''O. m. sibutuensis'' - Found in the

Sibutu Islands The Sibutu Islands are an archipelago in the southern Philippines. It is geographically and ethnologically the islands are part of Borneo. The archipelago consists of the following inhabited islands; Sibutu, Tumindao, Sitangkai, Omapui, Sipankot, a ...

and Tumindao * ''O. m. mantanensis -'' Found in the surrounding islands of southern

Palawan Palawan (), officially the Province of Palawan ( cyo, Probinsya i'ang Palawan; tl, Lalawigan ng Palawan), is an archipelagic province of the Philippines that is located in the region of Mimaropa. It is the largest province in the country in t ...

Habitat and Conservation Status

The Mantanani scops owl is endemic to small islands between the

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

n state of

Sabah Sabah () is a state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indonesia to the south. The Federal Territory o ...

in northern Borneo, such as the Mantanani group after which the species gets its common name, and the Philippines island of

, including Calamien, Rasa and Ursula, as well as islands in the Sulu Archipelago and the central Philippines. It is fairly common in coconut groves and other wooded habitats, such as stands of '' Casuarina equisetifolia'', though the total range size is small and estimated to be less than .BirdLife Factsheet. The Mantanani scops owl is considered to be

because it is confined to increasingly disturbed and degraded habitats within a small range. The BirdLife population estimate for the species over its entire range is 6,000 to 15,000 individuals and decreasing. Estimates for the population on Mantanani Island are for at least 100 birds.Smythies & Davison (1999).

References

External links

Arkive: photo of Mantanani Scops-owl by Tim Laman

Sources

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q1270245 Otus (bird) Birds of East Malaysia Birds of the Philippines Birds described in 1892 Taxa named by Richard Bowdler Sharpe