Buffy Fish-Owl

About the Buffy Fish-Owl

The buffy fish owl (Ketupa ketupu), also known as the Malay fish owl, is a fish owl in the family Strigidae. It is native to Southeast Asia and lives foremost in tropical forests and wetlands. Due to its wide distribution and assumed stable population, it is listed as least concern on the IUCN Red List since 2004.

Strix ketupu was the scientific name proposed by Thomas Horsfield in 1821 for a buffy fish owl collected in Java. Ketupa was proposed as generic name by René-Primevère Lesson in 1831 for fish owl species from Java and India. In the 19th and 20th centuries, several zoological specimens of buffy fish owls were described:

Ketupa minor by Johann Büttikofer in 1896 were two small fish owls collected on Nias island with a wing chord of 29.5–30 cm (11.6–11.8 in), a tail of 14–14.5 cm (5.5–5.7 in), and a short bill of 3.5 cm (1.4 in). Bubo ketupu aagaardi by Oscar Neumann in 1935 was a pale fish owl specimen from Bangnara in Thailand with a wing chord of 31.5–34.5 cm (12.4–13.6 in).

Bubo ketupu pageli also by Neumann in 1935 was a reddish fish owl from the mountains of northeastern Borneo with a wing chord of 31–33 cm (12–13 in). Three are recognised today as Ketupa... Wikipedia →