ANATOMY OF BIRDS
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION
MIGRATIONS OF BIRDS
CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS
LIZARD-TAILED BIRD
AMERICAN TOOTHED-BIRDS
THE OSTRICHES
THE RHEAS
EMEUS AND CASSOWARIES
THE TINAMOUS
THE KIWIS
THE PENGUINS
LOONS AND GREBES
ALBATROSSES & PETRELS
STORK-LIKE BIRDS
GOOSE-LIKE BIRDS
FALCON-LIKE BIRDS
FOWL-LIKE BIRDS
CRANE-LIKE BIRDS
PLOVER-LIKE BIRDS
CUCKOO-LIKE BIRDS
THE ROLLER-LIKE BIRDS
SPARROW-LIKE BIRDS
Birds and Birding's Guide to:
Watching THE ROLLER-LIKE BIRDS
THE ROLLERS AND THEIR ALLIES
THE OWLS
The Oriental Fish Owls
(Ketupa) are large, powerful birds, with large, well-curved and sharp-edged claws and large, strong bills. The wings are rounded and do not reach to the end of the moderately long tail, while the facial disk is poorly marked, especially above. Of the four recognized species the Indian or Brown Fish Owl (K. zeylonensis) is, perhaps, the best known.
It is a large bird, nearly twenty-five inches in length, rufescent brown or dull rufous above, the feathers streaked with black down their centers and more or less mottled with fulvous on the webs, the quills and tail-feathers dark brown with paler mottled whitish brown bands, while the throat and lower parts are whitish, narrowly barred with brownish rufous, each feather with a dark shaft line. This species, which is common throughout India, Ceylon, and Burma, frequents well-wooded regions near the sea, rivers, or large bodies of water, generally passing the day in a thick tree, whence it issues at sunset and wings its way to the water's edge to search for food. It lives principally on fish and crabs, but is also known to kill small birds or mammals.
At the nesting season, which extends from December to March, it resorts to the vicinity of water, placing the nest in a hollow tree, the abandoned nest of the Fishing Eagle, or on a rocky ledge. The eggs, usually two in number, are white and broad oval in shape.
The Tawny Fish Owl (K. flavipes) is a fine species, frequenting the banks of Himalayan rivers, and is rich orange-buff, the feathers all with dark central stripes. Its nest and eggs are unknown. Similar to the last, but much smaller, is the Malayan Fish Owl (K. ketupa), which ranges throughout the Malay Peninsula, Java, Sumatra, and Borneo. It feeds largely on insects and is said to be more or less active during daylight.
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