African Grass-owl (Tyto capensis)

Other Names (World)
African Grass-Owl, Grass Owl(!), Common Grass-owl, African Owl, Cape Grass-owl, Cape Owl,, African Grass Owl

Family
Tytonidae (Barn-owls)

Size
34 - 37 cm

First Described (Guide)
(Smith, 1834)

Derivation
T�'-to - Gk, tyto, night owl: capensis - L., capensis, of the Cape (of Good Hope)

Habitat
Mainly open tussock grasslands, either treeless or with a sparse covering of trees, including marshy areas and croplands.

Range (Guide)

Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania [United Republic of], Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Cameroon highlands (3 records); Congo and northern Angola east to southern Uganda and western Kenya, then south through western Tanzania and Zambia to western Mozambique and eastern South Africa (formerly west to Cape Town); single record from Ethiopia; recorded in error from Namibia.

Rarity Status
View Rarity Status Information

Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).

Status LC
For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

Habits
Usually singly, but occasionally in pairs or family groups.

Food
Rodents, large insects, reptiles and frogs.

Voice
A loud, hissing scream. Also high-pitched, cricket-like, chirruping trills.

(47Kb) © ? (1)

Xeno-Canto Sound Files

African Grass Owl (Tyto capensis) [XC699551]
by id from Mutinondo Wilderness, Zambia (call)

African Grass Owl (Tyto capensis) [XC312061]
by Hans Matheve from Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Area (near Randburg), City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, Gauteng, South Africa (begging call, call)

Nest
A shallow scrape or depression in the ground, under or in a tussock of grass.

Eggs (Guide)
3 - 8; dull white; ellipsoidal; about 4-0 - 45 x 30 - 33 mm. Incubation: about 31 - 42 days; by female. Eggs are laid on alternate nights.

Young
Semi-altricial, nidicolous. Fledge in about 56 days. Fed by both parents after 4 - 5 weeks.

Subspecies
African Grass-owl (Tyto capensis) and Grass Owl (Tyto longimembris) (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993), cross-regional species, are retained as separate species contra Christidis and Boles (1994) who include longimembris as a subspecies of African Grass-owl (Tyto capensis).

Forms superspecies with Grass Owl (Tyto longimembris), and often treated as conspecific. Some minor variation recorded, but subspecies damarensis, libratus and cameroonensis considered no longer tenable.

No subspecies.

References
See References.

The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9

Files:

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