MOTTLED WOOD OWL (STRIX OCELLATA)
KALANKOZHI
>From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear friends,
Yesterday whileskipping through You-tube in the afternoon, I came across a
video about the Mottled woodowl. Though it is called acock bringing death in
Malayalam, it belongs to the family of owl. There is no truth in the statement.
In a semi forestarea one young man found a baby Kalankozhi, being attacked by
crows before years. He saved it, attended injuries onit’s body, and made it
flew. The bird listens to the young man’s call and comesto him when ever he
calls. Itnever attempt to fly, unless the young man put it to fly.
In Kerala the birdis considered as bad omen, it’s voice is Puvam is considered
ascalling some body to death. It normally resides in palm trees. Ithas two
stomachs, after eating rats, and similar beings, drops back thebone from the
second stomach, throughthe mouth.
Sometimes it isconsidered as a form of Yakshi, calling people topalm trees,
eat and drops the bones, though there isno truth in it. As told byvideo person.
I thought I couldget more information as the person made the video himself
told from wikipedia. Ihave seen owl, not this bird except in that video. It’s
face appeared to like a small human face withlines. The following is edited
and compiled information from Wikipedia. Those not interested to read
suchinformation may kindly skip this posting.
Gopalakrishnan30-7-23
1 Scientific classification –
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia-Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves-Order: Strigiformes
Family: Strigidae-Genus: Strix
Species: S. ocellata
Binomial name-Strixocellata
Synonyms-Syrniumocellatum, Bulaca ocellata
2. General description
The mottled woodowl (Strix ocellata) is a species of large owl found in India.
They are foundin gardens and thin deciduous forests adjacent to dry thorn
forests orfarmland. They are easilydetected by their distinctive tremulous,
eerie calls at dawn and dusk.The characteristic call is a duet of the male and
female, while other notesinclude a low hoot and a screech. Their large size,
lack of "ear" tufts and the concentricbarring on the face make them easy to
identify.
Thislarge owl lacks ear tufts andis mottled and vermiculated in reddish brown
and white. The face disc is markedwith fine concentric black and white barring.
The sexes are alike. The chin is white. Theeyelid is orange, and the iris is
dark brown. The tail is barred narrowly inbrown and black. The concentric
barring on the face and mottled crown separateit from the brown wood owl in
southern India.
There are three subspecies recognized and thereare no sharp demarcations in
their distributions.
S. o. ocellata(Lesson, 1839) is found in southernIndia and is shorter winged in
the males (333–338 mm) than grandis
S. o. grisescensKoelz, 1950 is found in northernIndia south of the Himalayas,
west to Pakistan and east to Bihar. Themarkings are pale above and the males
have a wing length of 338–346 mm
S. o. grandisKoelz, 1950 from Gujaratis differentiated by the wing length of
the males (360–372 mm)
3 Distribution and habitat
The species isfound in the plains in gardens and lightly wooded habitats. They
roost in treesduring the day, choosing a branch with dense foliage. An old
specimen fromLahore is noted, but no records in recent times from Pakistan. The
distributionextends east to West Bengal.
4 Behaviour and ecology
These owls roostduring the day, usually in pairs. When disturbed they may fly
in brightsunshine, although they choose to shelter within a dense grove of
trees. Theyproduce an eerie chuhua-aacall with a quaver in the second note.
This call is an antiphonal duet of themale and female. The male calls one or
two times followed by the female'sshorter and less tremulous version. The
calling is more frequent in November when they beginto breed. Most Nests are
found from February to April. They alsoproduce a single note hoot and a screech
not unlike that of the barn owl. The nest is a tree hollow in whichtwo to three
white eggs are laid. Theyfeed on mammals.
5 In culture
The call of the mottled wood owl is considered a badomen by some Keralites. The
call is said to sound like theMalayalam expressionpovaa-aa ("let us go"), and
likened to calling upon the spirit world.The species is also called as
kalan-kozhi ("fowl of death" -referringto the deity Kalantaka)in Malayalam,
owing to its behaviour.
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