ML22844781

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Media notes

Rough sketch made that day.

Observation details

A pair at nest, seen very well and described in detail in notes taken later that day (reproduced below). One of them apparently incubating. Fork of a massive tree in deep woods. 25 ft from ground. No sticks were visible, so apparently there was some kind of cavity unseen, within the fork. Both Randheera and I were at that time very familiar with this species and the other large owl common there, the Dusky Eagle Owl. [In fact, we had seen a nest of a Dusky Eagle Owl earlier, in the same part of the sanctuary (J block), on 2 Feb 1984; see eBird Checklist S40537658 and followup notes above]. Quoting from notes taken later that day regarding the Mottled Wood Owl nest: "Had it not been for Randheera's keen eyes, I would never have seen the bird. It looked every bit like the bark of the tree and was seated so still that it could have been easily missed out. The facial disk was too inconspicuous, and to add to all the camouflaging factors, the owl regarded us with eyes screwed almost completely shut! When I saw the owl first I thought that it was sleeping and was relieved so that we can observe leisurely. I told Randheera to make as little noise as possible lest the fellow wakes up. I silently skirted around for about 10 ft and when I looked up at the bird I was surprised to find that the face had turned at an angle: all the while the bird had followed my movements with shut eyes. This is quite odd because all the owls I had seen earlier regard intruding humans with eyes wise open and not shut. Shortly later we saw the other adult seated right in the open, on a tree a few feet away from the first. This bird was almost right on top of us and all the while had been regarding us with 'shut-eye' tactic. Realising that it too had been spotted, it flew away all of a sudden, zig-zagging through the branches with no apparent discomfort, and alighted on another tree about 60 ft away, again right out in the open. We stalked him a bit and observed him with binoculars and we in turn were observed by the bird with its eyes almost totally shut. The beak and talons were massive and powerful in appearance. The entire body was beautifully mottled, speckled and vermiculated. Both the birds were Kite- in size, and in flight, a large amount of yellowish buff flashed from the underwing. The owl seated at the nest seemed to have a bit of red colour in the face when wasn't seen in the other bird."

Technical information

Dimensions

2159 pixels x 1329 pixels

Original file size

643.68 KB