Ryukyu Scops Owl Photo Collection
A female Ryukyu Scops Owl. The nest hole is small, so her coverts get frayed from rubbing against the entrance on the way in and out.
A territorial dispute with a male Ryukyu Scops Owl nesting nearby. What a scene to come across!!
A parent bird urging the fledglings out of the nest.
It brought a cicada larva as food.
From top: first, second, and third chick.
Taking off after delivering food to the chicks.
Glaring at the Ryukyu Scops Owl in the neighbouring territory. Even so, there is a spot where two pairs of Ryukyu Scops Owls and one pair of Brown Hawk-Owls are all nesting within a 20-metre stretch.
Ear tufts raised in agitation after being mobbed.
It was nesting in a nicely shaped hollow. That year, I was unable to confirm any fledging.
Four Ryukyu Scops Owl fledglings. On Ishigaki-jima, three is usually the norm.
A Ryukyu Scops Owl the day after fledging. Without the cover of night, they're not quite as cute, are they.
It was showing its face at this hour, unable to bear the hunger any longer. The chicks here varied considerably in size, and the youngest didn't seem to be getting much food. It did eventually fledge.
Jostling at the entrance, each trying to be first to receive food.
A singing male Ryukyu Scops Owl.
A Ryukyu Scops Owl peering out from its nest hole.
It appears the nest was flooded by the heavy rain of a typhoon that year and the eggs never hatched.
The second chick getting its head scratched by the eldest; the third, at the bottom, begging the second to scratch its head too.
A Ryukyu Scops Owl with a black left eye. I have never seen this on any other individual.
When it is perched somewhere unexpected, I get a surprise too. ^^;
A Ryukyu Scops Owl that nested in an unusual spot — in a hollow in the thick trunk of a Barringtonia asiatica.
A Ryukyu Scops Owl chick that has come out of the nest hole.
A Ryukyu Scops Owl that nested in a dead Cyathea lepifera. Pre-fledging wing-flapping practice.
The parents bring so much food that it is already full. ^^;
There were three chicks in this nest hole, but only two could poke their heads out at the same time. These chicks were full too and turned down the food.
The male parent stands guard. Once it came crashing down on my head, locked in a tussle with a crow.
A fledgling and the female parent. A parent-and-chick two-shot of Ryukyu Scops Owls is quite a rare thing.
A Ryukyu Scops Owl that fledged after a light rain stopped.
Ryukyu Scops Owl chicks fledge before they can fly, so they either climb down the nest tree or drop to the ground.