Marsh Owl

Text Version

Monday May 12th, 2008

Marsh Owl
Asio capensis

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As of February 2005.
Description	Medium sized owl with very small, seldom visible ear tufts. Uniform brown above, fine dusky vermiculations on lighter brown below. Paler facial disk with dark area around dark brown eyes.
Size	29-36cm, 225-375g
Range	Patchy populations in NW Morocco, and West Africa, Ethiopia south to South Africa and Madagascar.
Habitat	Open country including marshes, moors, savannah, montane grassland, avoiding extensive long grass, desert and forested areas.
Food	Mainly small mammals but also birds and invertebrates.
Breeding	February-October in N Africa, September-November in SW Africa. Nest on ground in shallow, unlined scrape amongst vegetation. 2-6 eggs are incubated fro 27-28 days. By about 2 weeks the young leave the nest area, but do not fledge for another 3 weeks.
Call	A loud croaking "krrrrrrr" said to resemble the noise made by slowly bending and breaking a branch.
Status	Not globally threatened, and nominate race widespread, however the other 2 races have a very limited range and small populations.
Comments	Formerly thought to be very closely related to the Short-eared Owl, but its vocalisations suggest otherwise and DNA sampling is required to shed light on its taxonomy.
Races	No additional information.
Asio.c.capensis	Africa south of Sahara except W African rain forest
A.c.tingitanus	NW Morocco
A.c.hova	Madagascar

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