The Sulawesi masked owl (''Tyto rosenbergii'') is a species of

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 family

Tytonidae Barn-owls (family Tytonidae) are one of the two families of owls, the other being the true owls or typical owls, Strigidae. They are medium to large owls with large heads and characteristic heart-shaped faces. They have long, strong legs with po ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

n islands of

Sulawesi Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sulu Ar ...

, Sangihe and

Peleng Peleng is an island off the east coast of Sulawesi, Indonesia and is the largest island of the Banggai Islands (''Kepulauan Banggai''). It is surrounded by the Banda Sea and Molucca Sea and has an area of 2,406 km². Some of the smaller i ...

. It is listed by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

as being of

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

Taxonomy

The Sulawesi masked owl was first described by the German

ornithologist Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

Hermann Schlegel Hermann Schlegel (10 June 1804 – 17 January 1884) was a German ornithologist, herpetologist and ichthyologist. Early life and education Schlegel was born at Altenburg, the son of a brassfounder. His father collected butterflies, which stimula ...

in 1866 as ''Strix rosenbergii'', but was later included in the genus ''

Tyto ''Tyto'' is a genus of birds consisting of true barn owls, grass owls and masked owls that collectively make up all the species within the subfamily Tytoninae of the barn owl family, Tytonidae. Taxonomy The genus ''Tyto'' was introduced in 1828 ...

''. The specific name "rosenbergii" refers to the German surveyor and naturalist

Hermann von Rosenberg Hermann von Rosenberg (April 7, 1817 – November 15, 1888) was a German naturalist born in Darmstadt. He published a few books and several articles concerning his work in the East Indies. In these he describes the geography, zoology, linguistics ...

who collected bird specimens in the East Indies and sent them to the

National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. In 2021, with 7 ...

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...

to be classified. There are two subspecies, ''T. r. rosenbergii'' (Schlegel, 1866), found in

and Sangihe, and ''T. r. pelengensis'' Neumann, 1939, found in

in the

Banggai Island Banggai Island is the second largest of the Banggai Islands, an archipelago located at the far eastern end of Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. The largest island is Peleng Peleng is an island off the east coast of Sulawesi, Indonesia and is the l ...

group. Other common names for this bird include Rosenberg's owl, Rosenberg's barn-owl, Sulawesi owl, Sulawesi barn-owl, Celebes barn-owl, Celebes masked-owl and Celebes owl.

Description

The Sulawesi masked owl grows to a length of about . The upperparts of the male are charcoal grey with scattered white spots and streaks. The underparts are buff with dark spots and streaks and the facial mask is white or whitish-brown. The call is an eerie, long drawn-out screech and is usually emitted in flight.

Ecology

Little is known of the ecology of the Sulawesi masked owl. It hunts at night in secondary forest, agricultural land, grassland and open country. Examination of pellets regurgitated by this owl in a cave showed that the diet includes rats and shrews. This owl is commonly encountered in cultivated areas and scrubland on early morning visits to the

Gunung Ambang Nature Reserve Gunung Ambang Nature Reserve is a preserved area in the north of the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia. It is in a mountainous, little-explored region and contains a large number of indigenous plants and animals. Geography The Gunung Ambang Nature R ...

in the north of Sulawesi.

Status

The Sulawesi masked owl has a wide range and although the size of its population is unknown, its numbers are believed to be stable. This species has a widespread occurrence in Sulawesi, Sangihe and Peneng, but is not particularly common and the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

lists it as being of "

" in its

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q766922 Birds described in 1866 Endemic birds of Sulawesi Tyto Taxonomy articles created by Polbot