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PLATE 68: SMALLER AND MEDIUM-SIZED OWLS
Little Owl Athene noctua RB
L: 22. Small with round, flat-crowned head and long legs. Subspecies vary in upperparts colour.
Pale Arabian birds usually assigned to the subspecies saharae, but birds in eastern Arabia often
cold chocolate-brown and may represent another subspecies. An even paler form (considered by
some to be of the subspecies lilith) may also occur and this is illustrated. All subspecies have crown
and nape distinctly white-spotted, with white-blotched upperparts and wings, underparts boldly
streaked; eyes yellow, framed white. Flight deeply undulating, alternating rapid flapping with
closing of wings. Largely crepuscular, but often sits in the open in daytime on rock, building or
telegraph pole. If agitated, may bob (pogo) in an upright posture. Voice Territorial call is a drawn-out
and wailing koooah, also a short kiu; alarm call is a sharp series of dog-like yapping notes kip-kip-
ki p.... Habitat Open country with trees, stony wasteland, wadis, rocky semi-deserts, sand desert
with outcrops, cultivated areas. Nests in hole in tree, in rocks, buildings and burrows. Note The
subspecies lilith is sometimes considered to be a separate species, Lilith Owl A. lilith.Long-eared Owl Asio otus V
L: 36. W: 95. At roost, muted brown and buff with distinctive long ear-tufts (though invisible when
flattened); facial disc noticeably warm buff with striking white divide and orange eyes. Flight
jerky; fairly stiff wingbeats with glides on level wings (sometimes slightly raised). Separated from
Short-eared Owl mainly by face pattern, entirely streaked underparts and wing pattern in flight
(see Short-eared Owl). Nocturnal. Voice Vagrants silent. Habitat Woodland. Note Winter hatched;
vagrant Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE.Short-eared Owl Asio flammeus wv
L: 38. W: 102. Often diurnal, flying with slow, elegant and high wingbeats on long, slender wings,
raised during glides in shallow āVā (shorter wings with shallower, faster wingbeats in Long-eared);
sits on ground. Further differs from Long-eared Owl in strongly buff-spotted upperparts, paler
greyish facial disc with striking black surround to glaring yellow (not orange) eyes, ear tufts short.
In flight, separated from Long-eared by yellow-buff base of primaries (buff-orange in Long-eared),
more contrasting bars on flight feathers and tail, white trailing edge to upperwing, black tips to
underwing (not diffusely barred, as in Long-eared Owl) and dark streaking on underparts mostly
confined to breast and contrasting with paler belly. Voice Silent in winter. Habitat Open country,
often marshy. Note Winter and passage hatched; rare in S Arabia; vagrant Qatar.