Brown Fish Owl
A species of Fish-owls Scientific name : Ketupa zeylonensis Genus : Fish-owls
Brown Fish Owl, A species of Fish-owls
Botanical name: Ketupa zeylonensis
Genus: Fish-owls
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Description People often ask General Info
Photo By Lip Kee , used under CC-BY-SA-2.0 /Cropped and compressed from original 
Description
The brown fish owl has prominent ear tufts and rufous brown upperparts that are heavily streaked with black or dark brown. Its underparts are buffy-fulvous to whitish, with wavy dark brown streaks and finer brown barring. Its throat is white and conspicuously puffed. Its facial disk is indistinct, the bill dark and the iris golden yellow. Its featherless feet are yellow. Two-year old brown fish owls are somewhat paler than adults. Female and male differ slightly in size. In body size, it ranges from 48 to 61 cm (19 to 24 in) with a wingspan from 125 to 140 cm (49 to 55 in). Its weight varies considerably, ranging from 1.1 to 2.5 kg (2.4 to 5.5 lb). Some of the variability is attributed to the range of sizes across the subspecies. Also, females are invariably at least somewhat larger than males and condition of birds is variable. It is slightly larger than the buffy fish owl with a darker brown hue. Compared to eagle owls of similar length, fish owls tend to be even shorter in tail length and even heavier in build, have relatively larger wings, have considerably longer legs, and have a rough texture to the bottom of their toes. At least the latter two features are clear adaptations to aid these owls in capturing fish. Diurnal raptors who feed largely on fish have similar, if not identical, rough texture under their toes, which helps these birds grasp slippery fish. Unlike diurnal raptors who capture fish such as the osprey (Pandion haliaetus) as compared to most terrestrial raptors, the fish owls have large, powerful, and curved talons and a longitudinal sharp keel sitting under the middle claw with all having sharp cutting edges that are very much like those of eagle owls. Also, unlike fish-eating diurnal raptors will not submerge any part of their body while hunting, preferring only to put their feet into the water, although fish owls will hunt on foot, wading into the shallows. Unlike most owls, the feathers of fish owls are not soft to the touch and they lack the comb and hair-like fringes to the primaries, which allow other owls to fly silently in order to ambush their prey. Due to the lack of these feather-specializations, fish owl wing beats make sounds. The brown fish owl in particular is said to have a noisy wing beat, sometimes described as producing a singing sound, but another description claimed they could be "as silent as any other owl" in flight. The lack of a deep facial disc in fish owls is another indication of the unimportance of sound relative to vision in these owls, as facial disc depth (as well as inner ear size) are directly related to how important sound is to an owl's hunting behavior. Also different from most any other kind of owl, the bill is placed on the face between the eyes rather below it, which is said to impart this fish owl with a "remarkably morose and sinister expression". Similar adaptations, such as unwillingness to submerge beyond their legs and lack of sound-muffling feathers are also seen in the African fishing owls, which do not seem to be directly related. The brown fish owl has sometimes been regarded as conspecific with the Blakiston's fish owl (B. blakistoni), but there is an approximately 2,000 km (1,200 mi) gap in their distributions, not to mention a large number of physical differences not the least of which is the Blakiston's considerably greater size. 
Size
58 cm
Colors
Brown
Black
Bronze
Gray
White
Feeding Habits
Brown Fish Owl primarily consumes fish, frogs, and aquatic crustaceans. It favors still waters for hunting and is dominant in diets in some regions, such as Melghat, India. Occasionally, brown Fish Owl preys on snakes, lizards, insects, small mammals, and waterfowl. Unique to brown Fish Owl is the rare behavior of scavenging carrion.
Habitat
Brown Fish Owl occupy a variety of habitats across tropical and subtropical regions. These birds are typically associated with forests and woodlands close to bodies of water, such as streams, lakes, or rice paddies. Although they primarily inhabit the lowlands, they can be found up to elevations of around 1,500 meters in Himalayan foothills and even 2,000 meters in other areas. Habitats include deciduous, semi-deciduous, and open evergreen woodlands, as well as well-vegetated ravines, and often in proximity to old plantations or groves with mature trees. Brown Fish Owl can also adapt to areas with human alterations, often seen around water reservoirs, coastal regions, and outskirts of villages. In arid regions, they may be present in oases, favoring the semiarid landscapes with accessible water sources.
Dite type
Carnivorous
People often ask
General Info
Behavior
The calls of the buffy fish owl are described as a deep humming boom-uh-boom, a hup hup hu and a loud huhuhuhuhuhuhu. A trisyllabic tu-hoo-hoo is seemingly the territorial song emitted before breeding. Its call has been described as comparable to that of a distant Eurasian bittern (Botaurus stellaris). The buffy fish owl is nocturnal but can often be located by the small birds that mob it while roosting in a tree. However, in some areas it may be semi-diurnal and has been seen hunting during daytime, especially in cloudy weather. Brown fish owl primarily hunt by stationing itself on a rock overhang or hanging perch over water, or by wading into shallow waters. It grabs food by gliding over the water, nearly skimming it with its feet and grabbing its prey by quickly extending its long legs. It feeds mainly on fishes, frogs and aquatic crustaceans, especially Potamon crabs. It usually selects the larger freshwater fish available in waterways. Compared to the tawny fish owl, which prefers flowing waters, brown fish owls frequently hunt in still or stagnant waters. By number in the Melghat Tiger Reserve in India, freshwater crabs of the family Gecarcinucidae (of genus Barytelphusa) almost totally dominated the diet. Brown fish owls may be attracted to ornmental fish ponds or commercial fisheries in order to exploit the easily caught fish at such locations. Amniotes, in particular terrestrial ones, are seldom taken. However, other recorded foods have included snakes, lizards, water beetles, other insects, small mammals (including bats) and occasionally water birds. In Melghat, the largest biomass of food consisted of small mammals, namely rats (Rattus ssp.), other types of murids and Asian house shrews (Suncus murinus). Birds hunted by brown fish owls have including lesser whistling duck (Dendrocygna javanica) and Indian pond heron (Ardeola grayii). One unusual prey item recorded was a 28 cm (11 in) long monitor lizard. Competition may occur between this species and Pallas's fish eagles (Haliaeetus leucoryphus) as well as dusky eagle owls (B. coromandus), but the brown fish owl is more terrestrial than the fish eagle and consumes more invertebrates than either of those species, the eagle feeding mainly on fish followed by water birds and the eagle owl feeding mainly on mammals followed by land birds. If hungry, brown fish owls will scavenge carrion, a rare behavior for owls. A case where a putrefying crocodile (Crocodylus ssp.) carcass was consumed by this species was observed. As mentioned above, the prehistoric B. insularis is sometimes included in the brown fish owl. If this is correct, the different foot anatomy, more similar to that of a typical eagle-owl, would imply that the population had shifted back to terrestrial prey. A likely prey item in this case would have been the Sardinian pika (Prolagus sardus). It has been conjectured that the owls disappeared with their prey due to climate change, but the giant pikas of Sardinia and Corsica still existed around 1750, finally succumbing to habitat destruction, introduced predatory mammals and overhunting soon thereafter.
Distribution Area
The brown fish owl is an all-year resident throughout most tropical and subtropical parts of the Indian Subcontinent to Southeast Asia and adjoining regions. West of its main range, it is patchily distributed to the Levant (possibly extinct) and southern Asia Minor (recently rediscovered). The typical habitat of brown fish owls is forest and woodland bordering streams, lakes or rice fields. It inhabits mainly the lowlands, from open woodland to dense forest as well as in plantations; in the Himalayas foothills it ranges into submontane forest up to 1,500 m (4,900 ft) above mean sea level or so but not higher. It frequently spends the day in stands of bamboo or other large shady trees. They be found around water reservoirs, along canals, on the outskirts of villages and along sea coasts. Western birds are found in semiarid landscape and may breed in oases in arid regions. Regardless of habitat, it rarely strays far from larger bodies of water such as rivers and lakes. Being a large predatory bird, the brown fish owl is only rarely found at a high population density, an exception being Sri Lanka, where this particular owl's adaptability to human habitat change has been beneficial in continued high numbers.
Species Status
Not globally threatened.
Scientific Classification
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