Ryūkyū Scops Owl

Ryūkyū Scops Owl
Ryūkyū Scops Owl
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Strigiformes
Family: Strigidae
Genus: Otus
Species: O. elegans
Binomial name
Otus elegans
(Cassin, 1852)

The Ryūkyū Scops-owl or Elegant Scops-owl (Otus elegans) is a small rufous-brown owl with a brown face disk and a cinnamon facial ruff. The bill is olive-grey and it has yellow eyes.

It is found on the Nansei Shoto islands, southern Japan, on Lanyu Island, off south-east Taiwan, and on the Batanes and Babuyan islands off northern Luzon, Philippines in semi-tropical evergreen forest. It is becoming rare due to habitat loss.

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