KOTA KINABALU: For the first time since its discovery more than 125 years ago, scientists have documented the Bornean subspecies of the Rajah Scops-Owl in the montane forest of Mount Kinabalu, Times News Express reported.
Researchers from the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Centre announced their rediscovery of the orange-eyed bird last month in the Wilson Journal of Ornithology, including the first photographs of it in the wild.
In their report’s Abstract, the ecologists noted that while almost all of the basic elements of the species’ ecology are unknown – like vocalisations, distribution, breeding biology, and population size – the “phylogeographic patterns of montane birds in Borneo and Sumatra, as well as plumage characters, suggest that O. b. brookii may be deserving of species classification.”
In an interview with Smithsonian Magazine, study author Andy Boyce said the rediscovery – made in Sabah in 2016 – was largely due to good timing.
He was there to research how different bird species behave across various elevations with the University of Montana when he got a tip from technician Keegan Tranquillo about a strange-looking owl with orange eyes.
“If we did not document it right then and there, this bird could disappear again for who knows how long,” Boyce told the publication.
“It was a really rapid progression of emotion. There was nervousness and anticipation as I was trying to get there, hoping the bird would still be there.
“Just huge excitement, and a little bit of disbelief, when I first saw the bird and realised what it was. And then, immediately, a lot of anxiety again.”
The owl is reportedly around a quarter larger than ordinary owls native to the region and appears with grey, black and dark brown plumage.
Not much is known about Otus brookii brookii, including its song and the location of its core habitat. Its partner subspecies Otus brookii solokensis is found in Sumatra.
Boyce said he believes the largely nocturnal owl has not been seen in so long because population density is low and that it may be “endemic” to that island, though he was able to find the owl again after an exhaustive two-week search.
He noted that while species are “going extinct so fast that we are probably losing species that we never even knew existed,” humans “cannot conserve what we do not know exists.”
“It reminds us as humans, and as scientists, that there are things, there are places in this world—even at this point where we have our fingerprints all over the planet—that we still just don’t have a grasp of and we’re still surprised on a daily basis by things that we find,” he said.
