New replenishment – the taxidermied African wood owl

(Strix woodfordii Smith, 1834)

The ornithological collection of Darwin museum was replenished with a rare exhibit - a taxidermied African wood owl (Strix woodfordii Smith, 1834), which was made by the museum taxidermist Oksana Vladimirovna Mbita Ebele.

 

African wood owl (Strix woodfordii Smith, 1834) is a species of small owls from the genus Strix. This bird is widespread in sub-Saharan Africa. It can be found on the territory from Senegal and Gambia to Ethiopia and Angola, Botswana and Zimbabwe. The species also inhabits Mozambique and The Province of the Cape of Good Hope. It is a nonmigratory bird that lives primarily in woodland and in forests along rivers, as well as on plantations.

 

This owl is active at night and dusk. During the day, birds sit alone or in pairs in dense foliage, usually high in trees. Before leaving for hunting, the bird stretches like a person waking up. It feeds mainly on insects, as well as frogs and small reptiles, mammals, and birds.

The bird was brought from a scientific expedition to Cameroon in December 2019, in which Oksana Vladimirovna Mbita Ebele took part.

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