Black and White Owl - Strix nigrolineata
Formerly Ciccaba nigrolineata
Calls - Strix nigrolineata
[For help with terms used in the description, see parts of an owl. For general characteristics common to most owl species, see owl physiology.]
Description: The facial disc is blackish, with the rim and eyebrows densely speckled whitish and black. Eyes are dark reddish-brown to blackish-brown. The cere is yellowish and the bill is pale orange-yellow. The rest of the head, crown and nape are sooty blackish-brown. There is a prominent collar around the hindneck which is barred dusky and whitish. The rest of the upperparts are generally uniform dark sooty blackish-brown. The primary feathers have whitish bars and a white terminal band.
The throat has a blackish bib, with the rest of the underparts are whitish with dense blackish barring. Tarsi are feathered and barred dusky and whitish. Toes are bare and coloured dirty yellow to orange-yellow. Claws are yellowish-horn.
Size: Length 35-40cm. Wing length males 272-285mm, females 255-293mm.
Weight males 404-436g, females 468-535g.
Habits: The Black-and-white Owl is nocturnal, roosting during the day in dense foliage, among creepers or on a branch close to a tree trunk - normally well above the ground. Paired owls may be found roosting together.
Voice: The main call of the male is a series of rapid, low, guttural notes, gradually increasing in volume and pitch, followed by a loud, explosive and higher-pitched wow with a wailing quality, then a faint, short ho slightly lower in pitch. Together, the phrase is like this - wobobobobobo wow ho, and is repeated at intervals of several seconds. The female has a similar higher pitched song. A protracted, high-pitched who-ah is also described.
Hunting & Food: The Black-and-white Owl feeds primarily on insects, especially beetles, grasshoppers, locusts and crickets. They also take small mammals (including bats) and other small vertebrates such as birds and frogs. Prey are normally caught from a perch, but sometimes hawked in the air or taken on the wing from branches or leaves. Hunting of often done along forest edges. These owls are sometimes attracted to bright lights with swarming insects.
Breeding: Breeding biology is not well known. Breeds during the dry season (March-May in Central America). Usually nests in a natural hole in a rotten stump or tree trunk. May also use a thick branch between two epiphytes (a plant that grows upon another plant) or abandoned stick nests of larger birds. Normally two white eggs (average 46.4 x 38.4mm, 33.8g) are laid and incubated by the female alone, while the male provides food.
Habitat: Rainforest with clearings, forest edges, and semi-open swampy or flooded woodland. Also gallery forest and mangrove thickets. Ranges from sea-level up to about 1200m in Mexico, 2100m in Panama, and 2400m in Colombia. Can sometimes be found near human settlements.
Distribution: From central Mexico through Central America to northwest Colombia, northwest Venezuela and west Ecuador to extreme northwest Peru.
Distribution of the Black and White Owl Strix nigrolineata
Status: Uncertain, listed as common in 12 Latin American Countries.
Original Description: Sclater, Philip Lutley. 1859. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London (PZS) Pt. (27) 2: p 131.
References:
Page Information:
Page compiled by Deane P. Lewis. Page last updated 2012-08-14
OwlPages.com Owl Species ID: 140.030.000
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