Sunday Article 100.

Forest owlet by Mohan Pai - May 16, 2010

Forest Owlet
Athene blewitti

Sighted in the wild for the last time in 1884,

it was rediscovered after 113 years in1997.
Only 100 breeding pairs survive in the wild
The Forest Owlet, Athene blewitti, had not been seen in India last in1884. The last
confirmed record- a specimen in Britain’s Natural History Museum - was collected in
1884. Believed to have been extinct for over a century, 113 years to be precise, it was
rediscovered by Pamela C. Rasmussen, Ben King and David Abbott at Shahada near
Taloda in the Nandurbar district of Maharashtra (Toranmal Reserve Forest) in India in
November 1997.
How this rediscovery came about is a fascinating story, involving theft, fraud, and
international espionage. In the course of working on a field guide to the birds of the
Indian subcontinent, ornithologist Rasmussen became aware of irregularities in the
records of Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen, a World War I British spy and colorful
character who early in this century owned what was generally considered to be the
finest private collection of Old World birds in existence. Through painstaking
research, she and her colleague, Nigel J. Collar of Birdlife International, were able to
show that Meinertzhagen's specimen of a Forest Owlet--which he had supposedly
collected in 1914, was a fraud and had been taken from an existing 19th-century
collection.
The species epithet commemorates F. R. Blewitt, the collector of the first specimen that
was obtained in December 1872 from Busnah-Phooljan near Basna on the Phuljar
highway in eastern Madhya Pradesh. The specimen was sent to Allan Octavian Hume
who described it in 1873.
The Forest Owlet is small (23 cm) and stocky. It is a typical owlet with a rather
unspotted crown and heavily banded wings and tail. They have a relatively large skull
and beak. Unlike the Spotted Owlet, the Forest Owlet has the fewer and fainter spots on
the crown and back. The upperparts are dark grey-brown. The upper breast is almost
solid brown and the sides are barred with a white central wedge in the lower breast that
is sometimes unmarked, especially in males. The primaries are darker and distinct. The
wings and tail are banded with white trailing edges. A dark carpal patch on the
underwing visible in flight. The facial disc is pale and the eyes are yellow.
Distribution and habitat
Until its rediscovery in 1997, this owl was known from only seven specimens collected
in the nineteenth century, in northern Maharashtra, and south-east Madhya
Pradesh/western Orissa. In November 1997 a group of American ornithologists,
including Pamela C. Rasmussen, rediscovered the species in foothills of the Satpura
Range, north-east of Bombay. In 2000 a survey of 14 forest areas across its former
range located 25 birds (using call playback) at four sites in northern Maharashtra and
south-western Madhya Pradesh, including three pairs at Taloda Forest Range and
seven pairs at Toranmal Forest Range. No birds were found in a brief survey of its
former eastern range in Orissa. More recently survey efforts in the Satpura Range
added another five sites. The species was also reported from the Chatwa and Padwa
forests near Andhra Pradesh by K. S. R. Krishna Raju
The Forest Owlet has sightings from the Talda Forest Range, the Toranmal Forest
Range, the Melghat Tiger Reserve, and the Khaknaar Forest Range, all in central India
had dense to open deciduous forest.
Behaviour
These owls typically hunt from perches where they sit still and wait for prey. When
perched they flick their tails from side to side rapidly and more excitedly when prey is
being chased.. When nesting the male hunted and fed the female at nest and the young
were fed by the female. The young fledge after 30–32 days
The peak courtship season is in January to February during which time they are very
responsive to call playback with a mixture of song and territorial calls.
They appear to be strongly diurnal although not very active after 10 AM, often hunting
during daytime. On cold winter mornings they bask on the tops of tall trees. Filial
cannibalism by males has been observed.
They make several different calls. These include a hissing call of short duration. The
song calls are short and mellow unlike those of most owls.
Status
The Forest Owlet remains critically endangered, and the current population has been
estimated at about 100 breeding pairs. It is thought that this owl has always been rare.
The original specimens were collected in dense jungle, and the recent sightings in more
open forest may also represent a habitat. The forest in the plains in its range has been
totally cleared, and there is pressure on the remaining forest resources.
Until recently, the best illustration of the Forest Owlet was the one above, which
appeared in The Scientific Results of the Second Yarkard Mission, published in 1891.
the illustration has several inaccuracies: the cheek patches are too dark and the breast
is too barred; the belly, lower flanks, and undertail coverts should be completely white,
not marked; the bands in the wing should be whiter; and the bill should be larger.

References: Wikipedia, Copperwiki, “Lost & Found” by Tim Gallagher.