Madagascar Red Owl Tyto soumagnei in Ankarana Special Reserve, Madagascar

2006·1.5 MB·

by  Jacques Van Esbroeck

Madagascar Red Owl Tyto soumagnei in
Ankarana Special Reserve, Madagascar
Jacques van Esbroeck
L’Effraie de Soumagne Tytosoumagneidans laReserve Speciale d’Ankarana, Madagascar. Cette
note documentelapremiereobservation del’Effraie de Soumagne Tytosoumagneidans laReserve
Specialed’Ankarana, aunorddeMadagascar, enoctobre 1999. Cetoiseau, quiaetephotographie
a son dortoir, est connu pour passer lajournee dans une galerie laterale d’une caverne assez pro-
fonde, un site certainement inattendu pour cette espece forestiere. De plus, Tyto soumagnei est
normalement associee a la foret ombrophile sempervirente, alors que la vegetation forestiere a
Ankaranaestdomineeparlaforetdecidueseche. Des lambeauxde foretsemi-sempervirenteexis-
tent cependant dans quelques canyons ombrages.
A
nkarana Special Reserve lies c.60 km south of semi-evergreen forest confined to sheltered
&
Montagne d’Ambre National Park in north- canyons (Cardiff Befourouack 2003). In addi-
ern ofMadagascar, but is lesswell known than the tion, the bird was found roosting in a situation
latter area. It covers 18,225 ha and has an exten- more typical ofBarn Owl 77 alba. Indeed, this is
sivekarsticcavesystem (ZICOMA2001), which I the first such record of a Madagascar Red Owl
visited with colleagues on 11 October 1999. The roosting in a cave.
main vegetation consists ofdry deciduous forest,
evergreen rainforest in the canyons, and palm Acknowledgements
woodland. While approaching a site known as I thank Fran^oise Dowsett-Lemaire for assisting in
‘Perte des trois rivieres’ (where three rivers disap- finalising the note and Roger Safford for his com-
pear,’ Fig. 1), our local guide Sabri informed us of ments on the draft.
aMadagascar Red Owl Tytosoumagneiroostingby
day in a deep cave, now completely dry. He References
ccalviem—bedandoopwenn —ctihreculaalrmhooslte vc.er1t0i0calmwianlldioafmettehre BirdLWiofreldIn2t0e0r4n.atiCoDna-l.RO2M00.4.CaTmhbrreiadtgeen,edUBKi:rdBsirodfLitfhee
and 50 m deep and disappeared into a narrow International.
llya,tenroalddgailnlgerayfaftirtmhaetibvoetltyotmh.atHtehereoawplpewaarsedprqeusiecnkt-. Cardiofff,AnSk.a&ranBae.foIunroGuoaockd,mJa.n2,00S3..MT.he&rBeesenrsvteeasdp,ecJi.alPe.
He then flushed it from its hiding place and the &(edsL.o)ndTohne,NaUtKu:raUlniHviesrtsoirtyyooffMCadhaigcaasgcoarP.resCsh.icago
bird perched for c.2 minutes on the lower part of Thorstrom, R. & Rene de Roland, L.-A. 2003.
the oppositewall. Eleon Rabemananjara managed Strigiformes: Tytosoumagnei, MadagascarRedOwl,
to take four pimctures with my small camera, some Vorondolomena. In Goodman, S. M. & Benstead,
at less than 1 (Fig. 2). Because ofthe flash, the J. P. (eds.) The Natural History ofMadagascar.
owl appears less uniformly deep red than itwas in Chicago & London, UK: University of Chicago
the field. Press.
The presence of Tyto soumagnei at Ankarana ZICOMA2001. Madagascar. In Fishpool, L. D. C. &
was mentioned recently for the first time (Cardiff Evans, M. I. (eds.) Important BirdAreas in Africa
& &
Befourouack 2003, Thorstrom Rene de andAssociatedIslands:PrioritySitesforConservation.
Roland 2003), but full details have not been pub- Newbury: Pisces Publications & Cambridge, UK:
lished and I am unaware of reports prior to BirdLife International.
October 1999. This poorly known species is con- Ruede la Cambre 1612, B-1200Brussels, Belgium. E-
sideredEndangered (BirdLife International2004):
mail:[email protected]
it is normally associated with rainforest and it is
certainly unusual to find the species in an area Received 23 March 2006; revision accepted 23 May
where deciduous forest is dominant, with dense 2006
MadagascarRedOwlinAnkarana, Madagascar: VanEsbroeck BullABCVol13No2(2006)-205
,
Figure 1. ‘Pertedes trois rivieres,’AnkaranaSpecial Reserve/Reserve Specialed’Ankarana, 11 October 1999 (Jacques
vanEsbroeck)
Figure2. Madagascar RedOwl Tytosoumagnei, AnkaranaSpecial Reserve, 11 October 1999 (JacquesvanEsbroeck)
Effraiede Soumagne Tytosoumagnei ReserveSpecialed’Ankarana, 11 octobre 1999 (JacquesvanEsbroeck)
206-BullABCVol13No2(2006) MadagascarRedOwlinAnkarana, Madagascar: VanEsbroeck