Brown Wood Owl

Facts about Brown Wood Owls, The Brown Wood Owl is an owl variety that belongs to the Strix genus of the Strigidae family. "Scientific name for Brown Wood Owl is Strix leptogrammica". Brown Wood Owl is a local owl breed in south Asia from Sri Lanka and India and south China and the eastern to western parts of Indonesia. The Brown Wood Owl is a rare local bird of thick forests. The Brown Wood Owl breed is strictly nocturnal, but it can often be surrounded by the small birds that mob it when it is resting in a tree. Brown Wood Owls prefer to live in heavy tropical woods along the sea shore, in the lower hills and in the lowlands, and they also live in plain primary woodland in the Sunda region. Brown Wood Owls are largely seen at altitudes of 1650 feet (500 meters) above sea level.

Features of Brown Wood Owl

The Brown Wood Owl is an average-sized bird such that female owls are bigger than the male ones. Brown Wood Owls have a body length that ranges from 13.6 inches to 18.0 inches (34 cm to 45cm), with the wing length, ranging from 11.4 inches to 16.0 inches (28.6 cm to 40.0 cm), and a tail length between 6.0 inches and 11.9 inches (15.1 cm and 29.9 cm). Brown Wood Owls have a body mass between 800 grams and 1100 grams (0.8 kg and 1.1 kg).

The facial disc of the Brown Wood Owl is fulvous or rustic-brown in color, with a thin, but distinctive black color border, and a black colored region around its eyes. Brown Wood Owls have no ear-tufts, and their eyebrows are light orange-buff or whitish-buffish, with dark brown colored eyes. The cere of the bird is blue-grey in color and its bill is greenish-horn with a blue color base. The head of the Brown Wood Owl is black-brown in color with a rustic shade, and alienated from the mantle by a well-known fulvous nuchal or cinnamon-buff collar. The back and the mantle of the owl are chestnut-brown in color, and they are somewhat thickly barred dark brown to black in color. The primaries of the bird are barred dark tan and chestnut in color, whereas its wing-coverts and secondaries are fulvous, with barred shady tawny-brown in color. Their tail is likewise barred, and has a white color tip.

The throat of the Brown Wood Owl has a thin, white color horizontal region, complementing the brown colored neck. The upper breast of the bird has a chestnut-brown or rustic pectoral band, barred black or dark brown colored. The remaining parts of the underparts of the bird are creamy-buff, thickly barred brown. The tarsi are wrapped with feathers to the bottom of the toes, which are light leaden with dull grey color claws.

The song of the male Brown Wood Owl is a single howl, rapidly followed by a vibrating note that continues for about 0.75 seconds. This expression may be repetitive at a gap of several seconds. There is a tri-syllabic expression, as well, with the primary note very faint.

Diet of Brown Wood Owl

The Brown Wood Owl mostly feeds on small creatures, such as mice, rats and shrews. Brown Wood Owls also feeds on reptiles, small birds and fish.

Breeding of Brown Wood Owl

The breeding season of the Brown Wood Owl starts from January up to March in southern parts of India. Brown Wood Owls nest in a tree hole or the hole of a branched trunk. Usually, the female owl lays two eggs in a single clutch.

The maximum lifespan of the Brown Wood Owl is 15 years.