Barn-owls (Tytonidae)
Ashy-faced Owl (Tyto glaucops) - HBW 5, p. 72
French: Effraie d’Hispaniola
German: Hispaniolaschleiereule
Spanish: Lechuza de la Española
Other common names: Hispaniolan/Ashy-faced Barn-owl
Taxonomy: Str[ix] glaucops Kaup, 1853, Jamaica; error = Hispaniola.
Until recently considered conspecific with T. alba. Following colonization of Hispaniola in late 1970’s by T. a. pratincola, latter found not to interbreed with nominate glaucops, and separation as two species now widely accepted. Several recent works consider nominate glaucops part of a natural group including insularis and nigrescens (last 2 forms possibly comprising a separate species, T. insularis), with extinct form T. cavatica from intervening island of Puerto Rico also considered closely related to this group; others place in.. View all taxonomy...
Until recently considered conspecific with T. alba. Following colonization of Hispaniola in late 1970’s by T. a. pratincola, latter found not to interbreed with nominate glaucops, and separation as two species now widely accepted. Several recent works consider nominate glaucops part of a natural group including insularis and nigrescens (last 2 forms possibly comprising a separate species, T. insularis), with extinct form T. cavatica from intervening island of Puerto Rico also considered closely related to this group; others place insularis and nigrescens in T. alba. On present evidence, best option may be to treat the three extant races as one species, with cavatica probably representing an extinct race. Limited available data suggest similarities to small island races of T. alba that may also warrant treatment as separate species. Colour characters of race nigrescens may not be tenable. Three subspecies tentatively recognized.
Subspecies and Distribution:
- glaucops (Kaup, 1853) - Hispaniola, including Tortue I.
- nigrescens (Lawrence, 1878) - Dominica.
- insularis (Pelzeln, 1872) - St Vincent, Bequia, Union, Carriacou and Grenada.
- Least Concern Enlarge map
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A individual perched at the mouth of the nest, located in a dead trunk of a Royal Palm Locality Los Patos, Dominican Republic (ssp glaucops)
DAVID ASCANIO 22 April 2010 1 year ago 25 sec 4 -
A close-up of a bird perched Locality Vogelpark Walsrode, Walsrode, Lower Saxony, Germany
Josep del Hoyo 11 August 2006 3 years ago 21 sec 3.6 -
A individual perched at the mouth of the nest in southern part of the island. Locality Dominican Republic
DAVID ASCANIO 22 April 2010 1 year ago 25 sec 3.5
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Two perched birds.
Locality Vogelpark Walsrode, Walsrode, Lower Saxony, Germany
Tomasz Doroń 6 October 2009 2 years ago 4 -
Lateral/frontal view of perched bird in a leafy tree
Locality Grenada (ssp insularis)
Mikko Pyhälä 28 February 2011 49 weeks ago 3.6
- No sound recordings available yet
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