Andaman Hawk Owl

The Andaman Hawk Owl is a hawk owl. It is native to the Andaman Islands; these islands belong to India but are closer to Thailand and Malaysia.
The scientific name for the Andaman Hawk Owl is Ninox Affinis. The Andaman Hawk Owl is sometimes called the Nicobar Hawk-Owl. It is also called the Andaman boobook and Nicobar Boobook. It was first identified by Beavan in 1867.
In more recent times, the Andaman Hawk Owls on the Nicobars is called Ninox affinis isolate, while those in the Andamans are called Ninox affinis affinis. The ones on Great Nicobar island are occasionally classified as Ninox affinis rexpimenta. All of these subspecies are part of the Ninox family, Strigidae family and Strigiformes order. The Ninox genus itself has more than twenty species from Australia to Siberia and throughout the Pacific Rim.

Appearance of Andaman Hawk Owl

Average size of the Andaman Hawk Owl is 10 to 11 inches (25 to 28 cm). The Andaman Hawk Owl has a rounded head without ear tufts. The Andaman Hawk Owl has long pointed wings. The Andaman Hawk Owl is around ten inches tall. It has yellow eyes and a small yellow beak. The feathers on the face are lighter than the brown and dark brown feathers on the head, chest, and back. The Andaman Hawk Owl has dark brown feathers with whitish and gray highlights. The streaks are more dense on the breast. The underparts are streaked in a pattern unique to each individual.

Habitat of Andaman Hawk Owl

Andaman Hawk Owls only lives in the semitropical rain forests and mangrove forests in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It has settled in some rubber plantations on the Andaman Islands, though it is not known how this is affect the bird’s population, such as whether the rubber plantations cannot sustain as large a population density as wild forest.

Range of Andaman Hawk Owl

The Andaman Hawk Owl is native to the Andaman Islands and Nicobar Islands. The Nicobar Islands and Andaman Islands are part of the Burmese Arakan Yoma Range and Indonesian Archipelago, but the two groups of islands are separated by the Ten Degree Channel. It is thought that during the last Ice Age, the oceans were much lower, creating a chain with even more and larger islands with a shared ecosystem.
The Andaman Hawk Owl only lives in the subtropical and tropical lowland forests and swampy mangrove forests of these two island chains. The species is considered near threatened.

Behavior of Andaman Hawk Owl

This owl’s call is a loud craw repeated at regular intervals. This owl feeds on insects. They often catch moths in the air before eating them. Andaman Hawk Owls also eat beetles and grasshoppers.
This owl has not been well studied. Its incubation period, size of broods, number of broods and so forth are not formally documented.

Trivia about Andaman Hawk Owl

This bird is considered near threatened because growing human settlement in the Andaman Islands is thought to put it at risk.
The Andaman Islands are located in the Bay of Bengal. The Andaman Islands are so remote that they are the home of the Sentinelese people who still live in the Stone Age and are aggressive to outsiders. They no doubt know about these owls, but we don’t know what they call them in their own language, because no one outside their tribes knows it.