A medium-sized representative of the owl family. The body length of an adult needle-footed owl ranges from 25 to 35 centimeters, and the average weight is 250 grams. The external difference lies in the absence of a facial disc characteristic of owls. This makes the head of a needle-footed owl look small. In addition, the bird has a slender physique, a long tail and a wide wingspan. The needle-footed owl has extremely sharp and curved claws that sit on its toes covered with spiky bristles. For this feature, the owl was named “needle-footed”. The feather color is dark brown on the upper body, reddish brown on the lower. Birds are decorated with white patterns and stripes. Owl eyes are expressive bright yellow.
Habitat
The needle-footed owl is a common species in the Australian region. Its habitat extends to the whole of Australia, New Zealand and the island of Timor. The owl prefers various types of landscapes. It can inhabit tropical forests, deserts, woodlands, and populate cultural landscapes. On the territory of Russia, the needle-legged owl is found in the Primorsky Territory.
Nutrition
Eagle-footed owl is a bird of prey. It feeds on various beetles, butterflies and dragonflies. Insects make up almost 90% of the entire diet of needle-legged owls. In addition, they can hunt small birds and mammals. Due to their outstanding characteristics, needle-footed owls easily prey on bats, small sparrows and mouse-like rodents. The bird goes to search for prey at dusk. It often hunts during the daytime in cloudy and cloudy weather.
Reproduction
You can tell a female from a male by her voice. The male publishes a loud cry “uh-uh”, which he repeats up to 40 times a minute. The female in a quieter and lower tone repeats “yh-s” and screams much less often than the male. With his cries, the male announces that he is ready for the mating season. Before calling the female, the male is in search of a suitable nest. Quite often, the male finds the hollow of an old tree to incubate his offspring. The recalled female accepts the offerings of the male and settles with him in the created nest. The incubation period for eggs lasts up to 28 days. The male does not take part in incubation.
Every evening, the female is absent from her clutches for half an hour and flies with the male in search of prey. The female can be weaned from the nest for only half an hour. After that, the male himself gets food for two. In the first days after birth, the chicks are extremely small and emit a barely audible squeak. But literally in a couple of days, the little owls begin to get stronger, emitting an already well-audible squeal. Parents look after their offspring by bringing them food. As a rule, chicks eat hawk moths, artemis, she-bears and other species of moths. At the age of two weeks, small needle-legged owls are able to get out of the hollow. Having reached the age of one month, they acquire the opportunity to live an independent life.
Population size
In the main part of the range, needle-footed owls have a healthy population, but their subspecies in other territories are on the border of a sharp decline. Philippine needle-footed owls are disappearing due to deforestation. The species that have settled on the islands are diminishing due to their small habitat.
