Brown Fish Owl

Ketupa zeylonensis, an enigmatical latin name, does Kétoupa come from indian mythology, where Ketu corresponds to the lunar descending phase? One thing is certain, our nocturnal raptor claims ceylonese belonging, zeylonensis coming from botanical latin, meaning the ceylonese origin. Ketupa zeylonensis can also be called Bubo zeylonensis, genetic analyses showing big similarities with the Bubo gene. Brown Fish Owl measures from 50 to 57 cm, the tufts of ears are generally worn horizontally and give a nearly flat head to our raptor, the big yellow ocular circles surround the black pupils, the eyes are slightly circled with grey, the cheeks being light brown. The bill is greyish white and visibly strong. The forehead and the skullcap are light brown, sometimes darker on some individuals, and clearly striped with nearly black vertical browns, the throat is off-white, we remark it especially when the bird straightens the head; the plumage of all chest and belly is cream. When we observe attentively the bird, we remark very light horizontal grey undulations on the chest and belly, and then thin dark brown marks complete the very worked dress of the Brown Fish Owl, granting him an haughty and noble port. The nape, the mantle and the back are brown, also striped with darker stripes and much broader than those observed on the belly. The brown-orange scapulars are speckled with a very dark brown color and are mottled with small off-white points, the same marking is visible on all coverings with spots and small light brown points appearing. These light brown points become more visible on the middle-sized and big coverings; the remiges will then take the same dark brown color, on the borderline of black, which speckled the scapulars and those bigger light brown points become then horizontal stripes.The tail, not very visible, is always a dark to blackish brown colour, striped with wide white to cream markings. The yellow legs have bare tarsi, which will probably help the bird when it is in the water. Females are slightly larger than males, juveniles are much less spotted and the various stripes are less pronounced.