Oriental Bay-owl (Phodilus badius)

Other Names (World)
Oriental Bay-Owl, Bay Owl, Asian Bay-owl, Sikkim Bay-owl (saturatus), Peninsular Bay-owl (ripleyi), Ceylon Bay-owl (assimilis), Oriental Bay Owl

Family
Tytonidae (Barn-owls)

Size
23 - 29 cm

First Described (Guide)
(Horsfield, 1821)

Habitat
Primary and secondary lowland dipterocarp forest. From sea-level - 1,200 m.

Range (Guide)

Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam (B), Cambodia (B), China (mainland) (B), India (B), Indonesia (B), Laos (B), Malaysia (B), Myanmar (B), Philippines (E), Singapore (E) (B), Sri Lanka (B), Thailand (B), Vietnam (B).

Vagrant to Nepal.

Rarity Status
Currently this species is not classified as a rarity in this country OR information has not been updated.

Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).

Status LC
For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

Habits
Nocturnal.

Food
Small vertebrates and insects.

Voice
An ethereal, piercing 'hwee hwee ...' repeated 3 - 6 times, each note slightly upslurred. Also a piercing screech.

Xeno-Canto Sound Files (more (66)...)

Oriental Bay Owl (Phodilus badius) [XC453749]
by Chubzang, bhutanbirdingtours.com from \u0e1a\u0e49\u0e32\u0e19\u0e25\u0e38\u0e07\u0e2a\u0e34\u0e19\u0e1a\u0e48\u0e2d\u0e19\u0e01\u0e41\u0e01\u0e48\u0e07\u0e01\u0e23\u0e30\u0e08\u0e32\u0e19 (near Huai Mae Priang), Kaeng Krachan District, Phetchaburi, Thailand (song)

Oriental Bay Owl (Phodilus badius) [XC154616]
by Marc Anderson from Kaeng Krachan National Park, Ban Krang, Thailand (song)

Nest
In a hollow of a tree or tree stump.

Subspecies
Has occasionally been considered to include Congo Bay-owl (Phodilus prigoginei) as a subspecies.

Birds of Thailand sometimes assigned to saturatus and sometimes to nominate badius, with those of Myanmar considered intermediate. Subspecies ripleyi and arixuthus might be untenable. Also, single record from eastern Philippines (Samar) described as separate subspecies, but specimen destroyed in 1945 and no further conclusions possible.

The following 6 subspecies are recognised:

saturatus Robinson, 1927 - Sikkim and north-eastern India, northern and central Myanmar and Thailand (except peninsular) east to Vietnam and south-eastern China (southern Yunnan, south-western Guangxi Zhuang, Hainan I); presence in Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh unconfirmed.
ripleyi Hussain and Reza Khan, 1978 - Anaimalai-Nelliampathy Hills (south-western India).
assimilis Hume, 1877 - Central and southern Sri Lanka.
badius (Horsfield, 1821) - Malay Peninsula and Greater Sundas (including Nias).
arixuthus Oberholser, 1932 - Natuna Is (Bunguran).
parvus Chasen, 1937 - Belitung I.

References
See References.

Files:

JPG files for Oriental Bay-owl (Phodilus badius) - 10 files

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