Striped owl explained

The striped owl (Asio clamator) is a medium-sized owl with large ear tufts and a brownish-white facial disk rimmed with black. Its beak is black, and it has cinnamon-colored eyes. It has shorter, rounder wings than most of its close relatives. The upperparts are cinnamon with fine black vermiculation and heavy stripes. The underparts are pale tawny with dusky streaks. It is native to South America and parts of Central America.

Taxonomy

The striped owl was formally described by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1808 under the binomial name Bubo clamator.^[1] The specific epithet clamator is Latin meaning "shouter".^[2] The type locality is Cayenne in French Guiana.^[3] The striped owl was at one time placed in its own genus Rhinoptynx and was then transferred to the genus Pseudoscops.^{[3] [4]} A molecular study that compared mitochondrial DNA sequences indicated that it should be placed in the genus Asio.^[5] This result was confirmed by a large molecular phylogenetic study of the owls published in 2019.^{[6] [7]}

Description

The striped owl is a relatively large species with prominent tufts of elongated feathers on the crown resembling ears. It is 30- long and weighs from 320to.^[8] Its head, back, wings and tail are brown with black stripes and small markings while its underparts are buff-coloured with heavy black streaking on the breast. The facial disk is pure white with a thin black border.^[9]

Distribution and habitat

The striped owl is native to much of South and Central America. Its range is not well known, perhaps because it is nocturnal and not easily seen, but it is known from Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay and Venezuela. It uses a variety of habitats, including riparian woodlands, marshes, savannahs, grassy open areas, and tropical rainforests. It can be found from sea level to an altitude of 1600m (5,200feet) and above.

Conservation status

The striped owl has a very large range and its population is believed to be stable. It faces no particular threats and is classified by the IUCN as least concern.

External links

• Striped Owl videos on the Internet Bird Collection
• Stamps (for Suriname) with RangeMap
• Photo-Medium Res

Article borderland-tours

• Striped Owl photo gallery VIREO

Notes and References

1. Book: Vieillot, Louis Pierre . Louis Pierre Vieillot . 1807 . Histoire naturelle des oiseaux de l'Amérique Septentrionale : contenant un grand nombre d'espèces décrites ou figurées pour la première fois . 1 . French . Paris . Chez Desray . 52, Plate 20 . Although the title page bears the year 1807, the volume was not publish until 1808. See: Book: Dickinson . E.C. . Edward C. Dickinson . Overstreet . L.K. . Dowsett . R.J. . Bruce . M.D. . 2011 . Priority! The Dating of Scientific Names in Ornithology: a Directory to the literature and its reviewers . Northampton, UK . Aves Press . 978-0-9568611-1-5 . 157 .
2. Book: Jobling, James A. . 2010. The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names . Christopher Helm . London . 978-1-4081-2501-4 . 110 .
3. Book: Peters . James Lee . James L. Peters . 1940 . Check-List of Birds of the World . 4 . Harvard University Press . Cambridge, Massachusetts . 166 .
4. Book: Dickinson . E.C. . Edward C. Dickinson . Christidis . L. . Leslie Christidis . 2014 . The Howard & Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World . 2: Passerines . 4th . Eastbourne, UK . Aves Press . 978-0-9568611-2-2 . 268 Note 11 .
5. Wink, M., A. A. El-Sayed, H. Sauer-Gurth, & J. Gonzalez. 2009. Molecular phylogeny of owls (Strigiformes) inferred from DNA sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome b and the nuclear RAG-1 gene. Ardea 97(4):581-591.
6. Salter . J.F. . Oliveros . C.H. . Hosner . P.A. . Manthey . J.D. . Robbins . M.B. . Moyle . R.G. . Brumfield . R.T. . Faircloth . B.C. . 2019 . Extensive paraphyly in the typical owl family (Strigidae) . The Auk . 137 . ukz070 . 10.1093/auk/ukz070. free . 2346/93048 . free .
7. Web site: Gill . Frank . Frank Gill (ornithologist) . Donsker . David . Rasmussen . Pamela . Pamela Rasmussen . January 2021 . Owls . IOC World Bird List Version 11.1 . International Ornithologists' Union . 17 May 2021 .
8. http://www.owlpages.com/owls.php?genus=Asio&species=clamator
9. Web site: Pseudoscops clamator: Striped Owl . Thurber, Walter A. . Rebecca Lohnes . Thomas S. Schulenberg . amp . 2009 . Neotropical Birds Online . Cornell Lab of Ornithology . 2013-12-22.