Monday, September 7, 2009

Owlet in action

My backyard's Asian Barred-Owlet again hehehe. These photos are from last week but I just didn't put them on this blog. So strange that it was tame, so I could get quite close and watch it for almost an hour. Here are some interesting acts before the bird got bored of my face and flew out to the other tree. I also recently got some new facts about the species that it is now splitted from the genus Glaucidium into its own genus Taenioglaux along with its close relation Jungle Owlet (T. radiatum) because of its habits and morphological differences. The pygmy-owls (Glaucidium sp.) usually have the habit of cocking its tail and/or flicking its tail from side to side, while Taenioglaux species don't, and the occipital face which almost every species of Glaucidium owlets has also doesn't occur in Taenioglaux owlets.

This shot shows its nictitating membrane and the scar above its left eye.

1 comment:

Stuart Price said...

Some pretty cool Owl shots you've been taking recently........