Eastern Barn Owl
Tyto javanica
Medium-sized owl with a heart-shaped facial disc and deep dark eyes. Varies somewhat across a wide range, but always note white-and-black speckling on the upperparts, beautiful gray-and-tawny wings, and large round head with ghostly white facial disc. Compared with various other masked-owls and grass-owls that overlap in range, Eastern Barn generally has a brighter white face. Hunts in open areas by night, foraging with a slow and buoyant flight. Roosts in old buildings, tree hollows, caves, and nest boxes by day. Gives a bone-chilling, rising shriek, as well as shorter rasping calls.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Tyto javanica
- Order
- Strigiformes
- Family
- Tytonidae
- Genus
- Tyto
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Papuan Scrubwren
Aethomyias papuensis
A small bird of upper montane forest understory. Brown upperparts, rufous wing and tail, pale brown underparts and a pale brown to gray eye. Note the dark spot in the wing with pale base to the flight feathers, buffy eye-ring and forehead. Searches for insects in small groups. Similar to Large Scrubwren, but Papuan is smaller and lacks the rusty face. Also similar to Buff-faced Scrubwren, but Papuan is usually higher elevation and lacks the gray crown. Song, a repeated, cheerful, whistled phrase.
Savanna Nightjar
Caprimulgus affinis
Well-camouflaged nightbird, usually encountered roosting on gravel riverbeds, open areas in grasslands, rooftops, or roadsides. Sometimes found in small loose flocks when roosting. Fairly well adapted to urban life in some parts of its range and often found in towns and city edges. Intricately patterned gray-brown with less white than other nightjars; only males have a fairly small white patch on the wing near the tip. Most often detected by its distinctive, high-pitched, burry “chree-ik” song, repeated over and over.
Gray-bellied Antbird
Ammonastes pelzelni
Small, range-restricted antbird of northwestern Amazonia. Most often found in forests on sandy soil, less frequently in dense woodland growing in the transition between upland and flooded forests. Note brownish upperparts, darker wings and tail, and grayish underparts; the male has a darker throat. Distinctive song is a fast rising series of burry whistles, similar to Plain-throated Antwren’s song but faster and more even in pace.
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