For most birders, the question, ‘Which is your favourite bird?’ can often induce a sense of dread that makes them sweat profusely. For me, it doesn’t. I know what my favourite bird is: the owl. But I love all owls, so to pick one is difficult.
If you’ve been following my articles from the very beginning (can’t thank you enough!), you’ll remember that I began this series with the Spotted Owlet, and soon followed it up with the Barn Owl. Today’s spotlight is on the Indian Scops Owl.
My first encounter with this bird was way back in June, 2013 (my wee years of birdwatching), when one evening, a friend, Soma, told me about this family of five owls — two adults and three juveniles — in her backyard in Malibu Town, Gurugram. I rushed there the next morning and managed to find all five on a majestic Saptaparni tree. With butterflies in my stomach and a heartbeat that refused to slow down, I knew then that this was a special encounter.
The Indian Scops Owl is quite a common species (not as common as the Spotted Owlet though), in urban developments but has learnt to camouflage and hide from civilization for its safety. More than being seen, they are heard with a feeble whuk of a frog-like call. Most birdwatchers tend to hear them first and see them later but it was the other way around for me. I did not hear this bird until later that year on a dark winter morning while on a run at Lodhi Gardens. Owls tend not to call after sunrise, unless troubled.
Unlike the Spotted Owlet and Barn Owl, they are generally found in the more dense trees, close to tree barks or inside dark tree hollows, which helps them camouflage, considering their brown body colour. It is a widespread resident across forests and well-wooded areas of the Indian Subcontinent south of the Himalayas. In Delhi, you’ll see them in Vasant Kunj, Hauz Khas, the Ridge and other such biodiversity-rich areas.
In this small species (23-25 cm), individuals can be very variable in colour from pale grey-brown to warm rufous brown with finely streaked underparts, a thin black line around the facial disc, and dark brownish-orange eyes. Its scientific name, Otus bakkamoena , has been derived from the Latin word otus , meaning small-eared and bakkamoena from the Sinhala name Bakamuna for various owls.
Unlike the two other common species found in the city, Spotted Owlet and Barn Owl, this bird has two tufts of feathers on the top of its head, very much like cat-ears. They are in fact called ear-tufts but it’s baffling that these have nothing to do with owl’s actual ears.
The Indian Scops Owl is mostly nocturnal, usually sleeping during day and becoming active in the late hours of the evening, when it sits on trees near lampposts and hunts down small rodents and insects. A keen eyesight and incredible sense of hearing makes owls formidable hunters. Their sensitive, directional hearing often leads them to their prey even though the latter may be concealed.
The family of Indian Scops Owl that I came across at my friend’s was my first proper sighting of an owl. I spent an entire day taking notes on this species. While the juveniles were curious, the adults were weary — yes, parenting is the same across species. There was never a time when an adult was not watching and correcting these young owls. The parents took turns sleeping and taking care of their young — not an easy task. One of the juveniles was as curious about us as I was about it, and it flew and perched on a door right next to my chair.
The day was special for two reasons: I never thought I'd see so many owls together at one place, and I was introduced to my friend's daughter Alisha, who sat next to me on a chair and was my owling partner for the day.
The writer is the founder of NINOX - Owl About Nature, a nature-awareness initiative. He is the Delhi-NCR reviewer for Ebird, a Cornell University initiative, monitoring rare sightings of birds. He formerly led a programme of WWF India.
