-
Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.
Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
Lilith or Little Owl? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter adambirderlife
- Start date
MJB
Well-known member
The ID of Athene noctua sspp identity in field guides has relied on morphological and plumage descriptions in many earlier sources. However, Pellegrino et al 2020 found an absence of clear-cut differences between sspp and a huge variation of morphological and colour patterns between individuals collected within any geographical area; no ssp could safely be identified on morphological data. As a consequence, the geographic distributions allotted to most subspecies are now suspect, as are sspp IDs.
Sorting out these uncertainties will require a host of genetic techniques. In the meantime, statements based on current understanding should carry a caveat! Perhaps Irene Pellegrino has further genetic research of this species on her 'to do' list?
MJB
Pellegrino, I, M Cucco, E Calà, G Boano and M Pavia. 2020. Plumage coloration and morphometrics of the Little Owl Athene noctua in the Western Palearctic. J. Orn. pp11 doi.org/10.1007/s10336-020-01792-7 (attached)
Nutcracker
Stop Brexit!
Calls are obviously very important in owls and many Scops-owls (Otus sp) are almost solely identifiable on calls. Still ‘Sound Approach’ which I appreciate immensely not always lucky with new Owl species
adambirderlife
Member
I'm going with Lilith Owl. Thank you. The PDF was fascinating BTW.
