The first business meeting of the Willow Springs Tuesday Study Club’s 98th season was on Oct. 17, 2023, at the home of Jane Bailey, hostess for the day with wonderful assistance by Pauline Cape. Jane’s home was decorated with a great collection of colorful Fall and Thanksgiving decorations.
Following the business portion of the meeting, Kathleen Carrel gave a presentation about a rare owl with bright orange eyes.
An easy way to find and identify a bird species is to listen for their unique calls. But a Bornean subspecies of the Rajah scops owl hasn’t been observed by scientists since 1892, and its song is unknown, making it that much harder to find.
Now, for the first time in more than 125 years, researchers have documented the Rajah scops owl in a study published in the Wilson Journal of Ornithology.
In May 2016, an ecologist carefully observed and photographed the owl in Sabah, Malaysia. He was researching how different bird species behave across various elevations. In collaboration with local residents, officials and several individuals from indigenous communities, the rediscovery took place during a 10-year study of avian evolution in the forests of Mount Kinabalu.
Out of a dark corner where there was a lot of vegetation, the owl flew out and it landed. While it was being observed, the owl flew away, but returned to perch in the shadowed area shortly after. It was a stroke of luck that it came back to that exact spot.
If it wasn’t documented right then and there, the bird could disappear again for who knows how long. It was suspected the Bornean Rajah scops owl hasn’t been seen in so long because population density is low. Researchers are not sure where the bird’s core habitat is, leaving them with little knowledge of where the owl could be found. Even if scientists knew where to look, the owl’s nocturnal tendencies likely make the animal even harder to spot. Because the bird has never been captured, researchers haven’t been able to conduct long-term observational studies or collect blood samples for genetic analysis. If you can’t even get DNA from the bird, you can’t do genetic studies. It’s going to be a long time before that kind of thing can be done and we can really know what’s going on.
While trying not to disturb or frighten the owl, the researchers meticulously photographed and documented the wondrous sight. The owl itself is about 25% larger than ordinary owls found in the area. Though a living specimen would be useful for determining its measurements, scientists assume the scops owl weighs about 4 ounces, based on its close relatives. Covered in grays, blacks and dark browns, this owl also differs greatly from the usual reddish tinge of more common owls in the region. Finally, its piercing, orange irises gave the bird away.
It makes you wonder what’s going on. What is the bird? Perhaps it’s an elevational migrant and it’s not usually found in that area, or it happened to be wandering around and just showed up in that spot.
After returning every day for almost two weeks and even visiting a few nights a week, the scientists were unable to find the owl again. It was especially challenging not being able to call the bird by its song. Standard procedure would have researchers go out at night in potential habitats to listen for its calls. Knowing the owl’s song could also play a role in helping researchers understand if the owl is a distinct species, rather than a subspecies.
Many species in Borneo are endemic only to that island, increasing the likelihood of the owl being a distinct species. A partner subspecies is found on the island of Sumatra in western Indonesia, but not much is known about the differences between the two subspecies.
From a conservation perspective, spotting the Rajah scops owl means it still exists, which is a vital first step for conserving the subspecies. We can’t conserve what we don’t know exists. Species are going extinct so fast that we’re probably losing species that we never even knew existed.
The excitement of this mystery emphasizes how anyone can contribute to new discoveries. With cell phones and new technology, many people have the capability to spot and document wildlife, so long as it’s in a safe and respectful manner.
