Otus ireneae Ripley 1966

Otus ireneae Ripley

Mrs. Morden’s Owlet, recently described by the senior author (Ripley 1966), has previously been known only from the unique type. Three males recently obtained in the Sokoke Forest by Forbes-Watson and another male collected by Dr. Purvis L. Martin for the Los Angeles County Museum provide additional data on this rare owlet.

Two of the specimens collected by Forbes-Watson are indistinguishable from the type in their tawny grayish-brown coloration, but the third specimen is a clear bright rufous, both above and below, and has the belly and mantle sparsely sprinkled with small blackish spots.

The stomachs contained mostly fragments of medium-sized saltatorial Orthoptera, e.g., crickets, katydids, and a walkingstick. All of these insects are arboreal leaf-feeding types likely to occur in vegetation off the ground.

On a tape recording of the call of this owlet, Forbes-Watson provides the comment that the bird produces eight “toots” in five seconds, corresponding in pitch to B flat on the treble cleff.

Individual weights of three males were 46, 50, and 55 grams.