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Occurrence of Collared Scops Owl Otus Lettia in Mainpuri (U.P.) India

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Occurrence of Collared Scops Owl Otus Lettia in Mainpuri (U.P.) India November 2012- January 2013, Vol. 3, No . 1, 210-214. e- ISSN: 2249 –1929 Journal of Chemical, Biological and Physical Sciences An International Peer Review E-3 Journal of Sciences Available online at www.jcbsc.org Section B: Biological Science CODEN (USA): JCBPAT Research Article Occurrence of Collared Scops Owl Otus lettia In Mainpuri (U.P.) India Amita Sarkar and Bhavna Upadhyay Department of Zoology, Agra College, Agra (India)-282001. Received: 11 October 2012: Revised: 30 October 2012; Accepted: 5 November 2012 Abstract: The diversity of bird species is of special importance as it can create responsive and adaptive behaviors among the whole population of animals in our wild environment. The Collared Scops owl Otus lettia belongs to family strigidae .It is a partially migrant species; a resident breeder in South Asia from northern Pakistan, northern India and the eastern Himalayas to China. These birds winters in India, Sri Lanka and Malaysia.. In this paper we describe the first report of our encounter with collared scoops owl Otus lettia in Manipuri region. Otus lettia is a very rarely seen species. Many species of Owl are at the verge of extinction, due to human activities. Conservation of Owl requires attention. Presence of collared scops owl Otus lettia was observed in this area in September 2011 . Keywords: Owl, Otus lettia , Mainpuri.conservation,extinction. INTRODUCTION The word owl originated in early European languages, in Old Norse, an Owl was known as "ugla", and in old German, it was "uwila". Both of these words may have been created as sounds that described the unique call of an Owl 1. Owls have binocular vision; their large eyes are fixed in their sockets, as are those of other birds, so they can turn their entire head to change views. Owls can rotate their heads and necks as much as 270 degrees in either direction 2. Owls are known for their disproportionally large eyes in comparison to their skull. An apparent consequence of the evolution of an absolutely large eye in a relatively small skull is that the eye of the owl has become tubular in shape 3. This shape is found in other so-called nocturnal eyes, such as the eyes of prosimians and bathypelagic fishes 4. 210 J. Chem. Bio. Phy. Sci. Sec. B, 2012-2013, Vol.3, No.1, 210-214. Occurrence...... Amita Sarkar and Bhavna Upadhayay. The Otus lettia 5belongs to family Strigidae and the Order Strigiformes 6. The order Strigiformes consist of two families—the Strigidae (typical owls; the larger family) and the Tytonidae (barn and masked owls; the smaller family) 6,7, According to Marks et al 6. , this family of predatory birds is plagued with a considerable confusion regarding its constituent species, and even generic limits, this confusion is largely owed to similarities in plumage and morphology, coupled with the lack of basic information on behavior, In fact, the taxonomy of the Strigidae is in far greater turmoil than that of any other family of non- passerine birds, this problem is especially compounded in the genus Otus whose members inhabit tropical forests where fieldwork is extremely difficult. More recent studies are largely based on analyses of vocalizations which have revealed that numbers of species in the genus could be considerably underestimated 8. The rationale for using vocalizations to “solve” the taxonomic nightmare that is Otus is based on the assumption that the calls of nocturnal birds play an important role in recognition between individuals rather than by subtle plumage differences, which cannot be seen at night, and it is these vocalizations that are used to attract a mate, advertise territory, indicate alarm, maintain contact between members of a pair, defend the nest or young, and food begging. This is even more important because stringed vocalizations are claimed to be innate (born with), rather than learned, thus providing valuable clues for species limits and phylogenies 7. The species limits of Otus in Asia are especially complex, where many distinct and little-known populations have yielded several taxonomic nightmares ,the collared scops-owl group is a case in point ,because of the numerous and loosely used common names for this group of owls, we will use of the zoological names in this article to reduce confusion 6 It is partially migratory, some birds wintering in India, Sri Lanka and Malaysia, this species was formerly considered to be Indian Scops Owl (Otus bakkamoena ) but now, they are considered to be different species 9 It is a small (23–25 cm) owl, although it is the largest of the scops owls ,like other scops owls, it has small head tufts, or ears, the under parts are buff colored with fine darker streaking ,the facial disc is whitish or buff, and the eyes are orange or brown, there is a buff neckband, sexes are similar 10 This species is nocturnal but it can often be located by the small birds that mob it while it is roosting in a tree ,it feeds mainly on insects, beetles grasshoppers, lizard ,insect and small birds 10 . Nest of O lettia is a hole in a tree usually 2-5 meters above the ground. Clutch size is 3-5 eggs white roundish oval ,average size of 34 eggs 32.3 × 28.1 mm which are reported to be incubated by both parents, breeding season is February to April 10 .The Collared Scops-Owl hunts at night, from low perches for small vertebrates or large insects, for food .It makes calls “Goog goog” 11 . This species is chiefly found in northern India and is replaced by the very similar looking Oriental Scops Owl Otus sunia (recently split) towards the south of its range. It is very similar also to the slightly smaller Indian Scops Owl, O. bakkamoena . , they are most easily separated in the field by their calls 6. STUDY METHODOLOGY Study sites : District Manipuri lies about 125 km about from Agra city. Manipuri is a district of Agra division, Uttar Pradesh, bounded in the north by Etah District, in the east by Farrukhabad District and Kannauj District, in the south by Etowah District and in the west by the Firozabad District. It has many wetlands; therefore it is a habitat of many wetland birds. Mainpuri also has Saman bird sanctuary, which is suitable habitat for birds, especially Sarus crane ( Grus antigone antigone ).We decided to survey five sites Saman bird Sanctuary, Bhamwat ,Krithua ,Markandeshwar and Sauz. Study methodology: During our field study ,we observed birds with the help of 8 X 42 Binocular ,Nikon 7294 Monarch ATB, further observations were made with the help of Camera Canon ID MK IV with 300 mm lens ,bean bag and tripod stand 211 J. Chem. Bio. Phy. Sci. Sec. B, 2012-2013, Vol.3, No.1, 210-214. Occurrence...... Amita Sarkar and Bhavna Upadhayay. Fig.-1: Showing Map of Mainpuri ( U.P.) and different sites I-Markandeshwar ,II-Bhamwat III- Saman, IV-Sauz , V-Krithua . OBSERVATION AND RESULTS During our observations, on 5 September 2011 at 6:00 AM to study wetlands and birds; about 06 km from Saman bird sanctuary towards Sauj, we heard “goog-goog” voice. On following the direction of voice, we located a brownish bird, sitting on the branch of the tree with closed eyes. It was about, 24 cm sized in height, it slept on the branch of the tree. Fig. 2: Showing Otus lettia sleeping on the branch of a tree in Manipuri (U.P.) 212 J. Chem. Bio. Phy. Sci. Sec. B, 2012-2013, Vol.3, No.1, 210-214. Occurrence...... Amita Sarkar and Bhavna Upadhayay. It was resting, with closed eyes, but when it felt disturbed, it slightly opened its eyes and moved its head. It was brownish in color with black and brown shades .The beak was pointed and the claws were pointed and black, brownish and round shaped eyes and small ears were also observed. Fig. 3: Showing pointed claws of Otus lettia ; one foot is shown (as the other foot is taken up while resting) Observations were made 5 times during the day; the owl was sleeping whole the day till sunset. Its’ pictures and videos were taken. At about 7 P.M, it opened its eyes stretched its wings and started producing “goog goog” voice, and flew away. This bird was identified by its morphology and calls “goog goog”. For detecting this bird we made references to a number of publications on instructions and guidance on identifying birds specially Ali and Ripley 10 .This species is very similar to Otus bakkamoena but it’s physical appearance and its calls indicated that it was Collared scops owl Otus lettia ,but it was not enough to identify it only at the basis of Physical appearance or vocalizations so I thought that it was necessary to catch it for the measurement of wing formula so next day early morning at 7:00 AM with the help of one of my team member we cached it with the help of a net and measured its wings Wing: 158-167 mm Tail: 76-82 mmour observation was similar to the observation of Freidmann and Diegnan 9 .Otus bakkamoena have Wing- 135-152 mm and Tail- 64-67mm 10 . So we were sure that it was Collared Scops owl Otus lettia. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Financial assistance from the U.G.C., New Delhi (India) is gratefully acknowledged. The authors are also thankful to the Principal and Head of the department, Department of Zoology Agra College Agra for providing the facilities REFERENCES 1. Weinstein and Krystyna. "The Owl In Art Myth & Legend" Universal Books Limited.1990. 2. D. Henggin, C.
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