From Opus

Alternative name: Pueo

Asio flammeus

Photo by BigSkyBirds
Location: Ranch land north of Great Falls, Montana, USA

Photo by docsevo
Location: Galapagos Islands

Identification

L. 33-40 cm W. 95-105 cm *Bright yellow eyes *Rather plain face with dark circles around the eye

• Ears are small and often inconspicuous *Overall cryptically patterned *Striped underparts
• Contrast between darker throat and upper breast and lighter, more uniform lower breast and abdomen.

A medium sized owl with long wings, its flight is quite harrier like. Often seen actively hunting in daylight over open country such as moorland and savanna.

In flight shows strong black area at wrist both above and on underwing, and distinct dark barring at the tips of the primaries; between these is an area on the upper wing where the base of the primaries is unbarred rusty-yellow, in good contrast to the surrounding black.

It can be confused with Long-eared Owl which is normally but not always nocturnal, and is mostly found in forested areas. Long-eared has more uniform underside when perched and lack the black area around the eyes.

In flight, the wings are not quite as long and the base of the primaries contrast less sharply with the surrounding black because of more barring and because the base of the primaries are generally darker on this species. Notice that the Description and Identification fields are written to fit the situation in Europe.

Distribution

The nominate subspecies is widely distributed breeding from Britain and Europe through Asia and America south to California and North Carolina. This subspecies is mainly migratory, with some southern populations more sedentary. In Britain local in N, sporadic in S.

Taxonomy

König et al. in "Owls" recognize 8 different subspecies, with others relegated to being synonymes.

Subspecies sandwichensis of Hawaii, commonly referred to by its Hawaiian name "pueo", is smaller than most nominate birds. domingensis is a small subspecies (12% smaller than nominate) which is resident in Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, and with records from Cuba as well; this subspecies may overlap with wintering nominate birds, but in breeding season is quite isolated from other forms. Subspecies bogatensis is found in northern South America in Colombia, Venezuela and into the Guianas, as well as in Ecuador and Peru. suinda is found south of this form, in Peru, Chile, Brazil and Argentina; this is a relatively large subspecies. In the Falkland Islands, the owl is represented with the subspecies sanfordi. ponapensis is a subspecies found on Ponape in the Caroline Islands in the South Pacific.

The subspecies galapogoensis deserves a species mention, as it is a small and very dark form with a distinct dark mask. König et al. calls for collection of additional information allowing testing of the hypothesis that this might be a full species.

Habitat

Breeds on heathland, in scrub among meadows, on bogs, esp. in upper tree zone in open boreal forests. Some subspecies also in dryer, open lands. In winter occur in a variety of open landscapes, often in good Harrier habitat.

Behaviour

It quarters the ground with its wings held up at an angle and then suddenly stalls and lands on its prey, which is often small mammals. Partly diurnal, often the most diurnal species of owl in much of its range. Food mainly voles, and population density in a given area can vary considerably depending on food availability. Nest is a scrape on the ground.

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