Collared Owlet Taenioptynx brodiei 領鵂鶹
Category I. Rare resident, first recorded in 2019.
IDENTIFICATION
Apr. 2019, Michelle and Peter Wong.
15-17 cm. A miniature owl with a large rounded head (lacking ear-tufts), plump body, short tail and yellow eyes.
Apr. 2019, Michelle and Peter Wong.
Differs from Asian Barred Owlet by its voice and the unusual face-like pattern on the back of the head produced by bold buff and black markings on the nape and hindneck.
VOCALISATIONS
The song, often heard in the daytime, is a frequently repeated loud, hollow, slow and rhythmic four-note piping phrase ‘pu pu-pu pu’ lasting about two seconds.
Occasionally utters a ‘pu-pu-pu-pu-pu-pu-pu-pu’, even in pitch but louder toward the end.
DISTRIBUTION & HABITAT PREFERENCE
Records are from Tai Po Kau, Ng Tung Chai and Kap Lung Forest Trail (Tai Lam CP), all in forest at c. 150-400 m., altitudes that are similar to those reported elsewhere in southeast China (Lewthwaite 1996) but considerably lower than those mentioned in the standard literature on owls (e.g. Holt et al. 1999, Konig et al. 2008).
OCCURRENCE
Records have occurred in the months January to June, August, October and December. The first involved one vocalising at c. 350 metres asl in Tai Po Kau on 23 April 2019 and photographed there two days later (Yu and Kwan 2023). This was followed by further reports of a single bird in various parts of that forest at c. 150-400 metres asl, presumed to be the same individual, on the following dates: 30 April-3 May, 10 October and 11-29 December 2019, 29 January-30 April, 20 June, 26 August, 12-25 October and 10 December 2020, and on 19 January, 4 February and 29 April 2021. There are two records away from Tai Po Kau, both involving single vocalising birds – at Kap Lung Forest Trail on 24 March 2021 and Ng Tung Chai on 27 March 2021.
BEHAVIOUR, FORAGING & DIET
Secretive, but calls from a perch in a tree by day or night and may attract the attention of mobbing birds.
RANGE & SYSTEMATICS
There are two subspecies: T. b. pardalotus in Taiwan and nominate T. b. brodiei from Pakistan through the Himalayas to Nepal and Assam, east to southeast China, Hainan and Taiwan and south to northern Vietnam and the Malay Peninsula, and resident throughout. In China resident in most of the area south of the Yellow River (Liu and Chen 2020). In Guangdong, there are records from nine out of 21 prefectures, from Shaoguan south to Shenzhen, west to Zhaoqing and east to Meizhou (Zou and Ye 2017).
CONSERVATION STATUS
IUCN: Least Concern. Population trend decreasing.
Holt, D. W., R. Berkley, C. Deppe, P. L. Enríquez Rocha, J. L. Petersen, J. L. Rangel Salazar, K. P. Segars and K. L. Wood (1999). Species accounts of Collared Owlet Glaucidium [Taenioptynx] brodiei. p. 210 in del Hoyo, J., Elliot, A. and Sargatal, J. Handbook of the Birds of the World, vol. 5: Barn-owls to Hummingbirds. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain.
König, C., and F. Weick (2008). Owls of the World. Second edition. Christopher Helm, London, UK.
Lewthwaite, R. W. (1996). Forest birds of Southeast China. Hong Kong Bird Report 1995: 150-203.
Yu, Y. T. and M. L. H. Kwan (2023). Collared Owlet Taenioptynx brodiei at Tai Po Kau Nature Reserve: the first Hong Kong record. Hong Kong Bird Report 2019: 235-239.
Zou, F. S. and G. F. Ye (eds) (2016). A Distributional Checklist of the Amphibians, Reptiles, Birds and Mammals of Guangdong Province. Guangdong Science and Technology Press. [In Chinese with English summary].
