Tyto sororcula almae is a bird of prey of the barn owl family that lives on the territory of the island of Seram in Indonesia . The owl is named after the daughter of one of the main researchers, Johnsson, Alma Johnsson as a kind of apology for the fact that his father was absent due to his studies. It was originally considered a separate species, but after additional research it was ranked as a subspecies of the small mask barn owl . [one]
| Tyto sororcula almae |
| Scientific classification |
|---|
| No rank : | Bilateral symmetrical |
| Subtype : | Tyto sororcula almae |
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| International scientific name |
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Tyto sororcula almae (Jønsson et al., 2013 ) |
| Security status |
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Not enough data IUCN Data Deficient : 62172832 |
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One of the individuals was caught in February 2012 at an altitude of 1350 meters in Manusela National Park during an expedition organized by the Danish Natural History Museum (SNM) and the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI). Perhaps the subspecies is very rare - in only four weeks of observation, only one bird was seen.
The first photograph of the subspecies (at that time undescribed) was taken back in 1987 by researchers Rudi Badil and Sakyanto Lusley. [2]
Content
Appearance
The length of the wing of a standard specimen is 252 mm, the torso is 63.6 mm, the tail is 116 mm; the length of the beak from the base of the skull is 37.4 mm, the width of the beak at the base is 16.1 mm, the average width of the beak is 13.7 mm. Owl weight - 540 gr.
The front corolla is the color of light pink cinnamon, darkened to the eye area, with short feathers that do not cover the ear cavity (possibly due to heavy molting), and a ring of red-orange, with dark stripes, feathers around the head. The plumage of the crown of the head, nape, mantle and upper part of the wings is buffy-orange; each feather - with a bright spot, clearly visible at the dark end. Large wing coverts and wing feathers are also orange-red, with distinct dark transverse stripes and rare spots between them. The front side of the tail feathers is also similar in color and painted in a tan with five dark stripes, each 5-8 mm wide, with a small number of spots.
The entire lower part, including the inner side of the wings, is yellow-buffy, with the main white color and small rounded spots on most of the chest and abdomen; tarsi covered with yellow-red feathers from base to toes. The iris is dark brown, the beak is pale. Legs are pinkish-gray, with faded gray claws. [2]
Voice
All sonograms recorded during the capture of the bird were subsequently compared with the voices of other barn owls, in particular with Tyto javanica . However, since Tyto's vocalization is poorly documented, and many of them emit screams, screeches, and squeaks with the most diverse meanings, there is currently no certainty in matching and comparing. A thorough check is required based on additional audio data.
The screams of Tyto soroscula almae are similar to the voices of T. sororcula cayelii , T. s. sororcula and Australian barn Owl . They are clearly lower in tone than T. alba ( deroepstorffi from the Andaman Islands and stertens from India ). [2]
Range
Endemic to the island of Seram in Indonesia.
Habitats
The owl was caught in a mossy mountain forest at an altitude of 1350 meters, in a small glade with a landslide, about 50 meters wide and 100 meters long. [2] The surrounding forest, about 15 meters high, is characterized by the angiosperms Beech (mainly subspecies Castanopsis buruana and varieties Lithocarpus ) and Myrtle (mainly the genus Sizigium ), gymnosperms Podocarpaceae , as well as tree ferns , rattan , bamboo , climbing plants, epiphytes and bryophytes . [3] [4]
