On 18th May 2008, Gerard Goh chanced upon an owl chick at Pasir Ris park while cycling along the bicycle track and posted a short account on his blog (above).

“To prevent it from being unknowingly crushed by cyclists or accidentally trampled by joggers, a fellow cyclist and I prodded it onto a piece of fallen tree bark, lifted it and placed it onto a low hanging branch of a tree. Hope it manage to survive,” he wrote.

The owl chick probably fell out of its nest or made its first fledging flight and landed on the ground (left). It has yet to fly properly and vulnerable to predators and being overrun by cyclists. Gerard did right to get it out of harm’s way and onto a branch. The adults would be around somewhere, keeping an eye on the chick and should take over from there.

Such accidents are quite common in the bird world. However, many of us feel compassionate and invariably try to pick it up and bring it home to raise it until it is capable to flying. This may not be the right thing to do for various reasons… see HERE.

Due to the age of the chick and the clarity of the image, it is not at all easy to identify the species. However, according to KC Tsang, it may be a Buffy Fish Owl (Ketupa ketupu).

It was March 2008 and Nelson Khor was birding with a group of photographer buddies at Bukit Tinggit, Pahang, Malaysia when he encountered and photographed a Collared Owlet (Glaucidium brodiei) (above). Roger Moo a.k.a. Cactus400D similarly managed to shoot the seldom seen owlet and wrote an interesting account of their encounter.

It was late evening and they were looking for a spiderhunter. An owl flew in and chased away the spiderhunter. Everyone rushed to the scene to record the owl but it flew away. Later it returned and was again gone. Then, according to Roger, “Out came the spiderhunter like F14 jet fighters zooming in onto the owlet… chasing it from one branch to another… the bulbuls called… out came the White-Rumped Shama (Copsychus malabaricus), not one but four or five…” These birds were obviously mobbing the owlet and scolding it (above).

“…then came the ‘chipmunk’ squirrels… one took a brave stand and marched right in… onto the branch that the owlet was perching… (above). The squirrel wanted to ‘peck’ the owlet on the face… the owlet flew across the road to another branch opposite… and guess who was ‘disturbed’ by all these but the Orange-breasted Trogon (Harpactes oreskios)… perching and watching… the whole ‘ruckus’ in front..”

Owls are easy to recognise. Their shape and plumage are rather uniform and these give them away. But size varies greatly. Unfortunately, very little is known about their behaviour, especially tropical species. And the smaller owlets, especially of the genus Glaucidium, the situation is especially acute.

The Collared Owlet is a small bird, about 16-16.5 cm high. It has a rounded head, somewhat large for the size of the body. It is reported to have a staring ‘dorsal face’ on the nape, although this has not been captured in the images.

This owlet is nocturnal and crepuscular, meaning that it is active at night as well as during twilight and just before dawn. However, it often forages during the day.

Images courtesy of Nelson Khor.

This post is a cooperative effort between NaturePixels.org and BESG to bring the study of bird behaviour through photography to a wider audience.

During his regular morning walks in the Central Catchment Forest in February 2008, Johnny Wee had a number of surprise encounters with the Collared Scops Owl (Otus bakkamoena). Each time the encounter was in a different location, perching on a branch of a tree and staring at him. He did not have his usual photographic gear with him the first time and could not record his sighting. Other times when he was prepared, the owl flew off as soon as he approached. He was lucky on 15th February when he suddenly saw the “cute little owl” staring at him at around 0900 hours. This time he had his camera with him and is sharing one of his images with us here (above).

The Collared Scops Owl is a common resident found in forests, wooded areas, parks and even in urban areas. This small, stocky bird, only about 23 cm high, is often heard but seldom seen.

An earlier post reported the failed nesting of the owl in Mount Faber due to flooding of its nest that was built in the depression of an angsana (Pterocarpus indicus) branch fork.

As with most tropical small owls, very little is known of its behaviour. Nocturnal in habits, it has been seen dust- and water-bathing during the day.

“The Brown Boobook aka Brown Hawk Owl, aka Oriental Boobook in Australia, the scientific name being Ninox scutulata, seems to have established itself very well around most parts of the old world from India, Sri Lanka, most of Indonesia and South China. With reference to Singapore, it is considered to be a common resident breeder, and also winter visitors (left). So what it means then is that our resident population could be rejuvenated by new blood coming in from maybe as far as Pacific Russia, Japan, Korea. However please do bear with me as I have not been able to check their passports personally.

“When it comes to the Oriental Boobook in Australia, in the Slater Field Guide to Australian Birds, 1992, they have recorded it only once on the north-west coast, no dates available, a rare vagrant from Indonesia. It is still in their checklist of 2003. So if there are any new updates from Australia by our Australian readers, please do let us know about it.

“However the latest most amazing find of this bird was in Alaska, St Paul Island, on 27th August 2007 by Jake Mohimann, so far this is the only record. No one knows how this bird got to be there. More details on how this was found are available HERE.

“With respect to our Singapore Brown Boobooks, they can be found in the Central Catchment areas, Rifle Range track, Sime Road forest, Mouse Deer Trail and Nee Soon swamps.

“Owls are enigmatic birds, very difficult to find and see, their camouflage is really extraordinary. There was one perched on a branch about 15 feet away, eye level almost, he was calling “hoo uk, hoo uk“, and still, Amy and me had a hard time locating him. But thankfully, we got him on camera.

“Our observations on the bird’s method of vocalization: I believe the bird would first take in a deep breath, then puff up his neck, then stretch neck up. So every time it makes a call, the head would bop up and down, as caught on camera (above). Sometimes the bird would also bend it’s neck, head backwards.

“For silent flight, owls will have very fine hairs/feathers on the leading edge of their wings. Besides that, I believe they also have very fine hairs/feathers from the edges of their tail feathers, evidence of which can be seen in the photos of this hallow effect of the tail caused by the back lighting of the bird.”

The loud cawing of crows outside her apartment window alerted Gloria Seow to an exciting spectacle of an owl being mobbed…

“Unbelievably, a Spotted Wood Owl (Strix seloputo) appeared at 2pm on 19th January 2008 in the most unlikely of places – on a tree just outside my 12th floor flat in Toa Payoh, a housing estate in Singapore with towering flats up to 40 stories high. However, my house happens to be located just beside a grove of shady mature trees providing thick leafy cover ideal for an owl’s daytime roost.

“This grove is also the home to dozens of other birds. Over the last two years, I have recorded 31 species seen in Toa Payoh itself, from migrants like the Blue-tailed Bee-eater (Merops philippinus), Arctic Warbler (Phylloscopus borealis), Asian Brown Flycatcher (Muscicapa dauurica) and Crested (Oriental) Honey Buzzard (Pernis ptilorhyncus), to residents like the Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker (Dendrocopus moluccensis), Oriental White-eye (Zosterops palpebrosus) and Pied Triller (Lalage nigra). All these birds were seen in the trees right at my carpark. Even the concretised canals hold water birds like the Little Egret (Egretta garzetta), Striated Heron (Butorides striatus) and Collared Kingfisher (Todiramphus chloris).

“Still, the appearance of this rather rare owl was a huge surprise to me. I was alerted to its presence by the loud and persistent caws of House Crows (Corvus splendens) emanating from just outside my study’s window.

“I took a quick glance and saw a curious brownish bird which I thought at first to be a female Asian Koel (Eudynamys scolopacea) (as seen from afar), and it seemed to be at the center of the crows’ attention. Since I’m one that makes a habit of peering at birds outside my windows through my binoculars, I decided that a closer look was in order. Imagine my shock and utter delight when I realized that the Koel was actually a Spotted Wood Owl.

“However, I soon realised that my Owl was under siege. The crows were mobbing it relentlessly and mercilessly throughout my 40 minutes of observation, dancing around the poor, agitated Owl, taking turns to jab and jeer at it from all directions. The Owl in turn followed this threatening display with increasing irritation, swiveling its head all 270 degrees as it tracked the movements of these aggressive warrior crows. It also attempted to lunge back at the black menace, snapping its razor-sharp beak in turn, but no actual physical contact was made between the birds. There was a point when the Owl almost lost its balance trying to defend its perch. In the end, the crows won the battle, successfully asserting their territorial claim by chasing my beloved Owl away. The video of this avian drama has now been uploaded to youtube.

“This Spotted Wood Owl could be the same one recorded at the former Bidadari Cemetery (now transformed into a jogger’s park), which is located about 3 km away. It could also be a post-breeding dispersal juvenile trying to establish new territory. My house is near the fringe of the Central Catchment Area, with MacRitchie Reservoir, a potential owl roosting ground, being just 1.5 km away.”

All over the world, predator birds are regularly mobbed by smaller birds. Over in Singapore, owls are often mobbed, especially when seen roosting during the day: two cases involving Spotted Wood Owl (1, 2) and one with Barn Owl (Tyto alba) have earlier been posted.

Images by Gloria Seow.