Dusky Eagle Owl

Bubo coromandus

Species Index

18 October 2013

Possible regional races (polytypic)

Historical notes on Dusky Eagle Owl, Bubo coromandus

The Dusky Horned-Owl [Dusky Eagle Owl] is a common and permanent resident, frequenting ancient mangoe topes, and is very partial to tamarind trees. In bamboo brakes, containing high and thickly foliaged trees, it is sometimes very abundant. It flies well during the day, making its way through branches with facility. The common native superstition about an inmate dying, should this Owl commence hooting about a house, is current throughout the Division.

Habits: This dull-plumaged bird inhabits well-wooded and watered tracts, where it lives on small mammals, birds, frogs, lizards, &c. A. Anderson mentions seeing one pursue a heron. It also kills and eats crows. Like its congeners it is by no means exclusively nocturnal. The call is characteristic, resembling, according to Butler, wo, wo, wo, wo-o-o-o, and is chiefly heard in the rains. It breeds from December to February, depositing generally two eggs in a stick nest, more or less lined with green leaves and a few feathers or a little grass. Sometimes the deserted nest of an Eagle or some other bird is utilized, and occasionally the eggs are laid in a hollow tree.