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Bare-legged Owl | Margarobyas lawrencii
Cubaanse schreeuwuil | Sijú cotunto
The Bare-legged Owl is a small owl without ear tufts, found only in Cuba and placed in a genus of its own. It was formerly included in the screech owls Megascops or in the genus Gymnoglaux; its closest relative is Puerto Rican Owl Gymnasio nudipes. The name refers to its unfeathered legs. It is strictly nocturnal and finds much of its food on the ground.
Voice
A series of soft, slightly quavering coo notes that rise a little in pitch, mainly in the first hours of the night. Also short, higher calls.
Recording: GABRIEL LEITE — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
20–23 cm, small and round, without ear tufts, with dark brown eyes and long, bare, greenish-yellow legs. The facial disc is cream with brown bristles around the bill, and a pale eyebrow continues over the eye. The upperparts are brown to rufous, with white spots on the shoulders and scapulars and white barring on the flight feathers. The underparts are greyish to yellowish white with brown streaks and some cross-bars. The sexes are alike.
Confusion species
Cuban Pygmy Owl Glaucidium siju is smaller, with yellow eyes, a longer tail and two dark 'false eyes' on the nape, and is also active by day. Burrowing Owl Athene cunicularia also has long bare legs, but has yellow eyes, a pale chin and a spotted breast, and lives in open grassy country rather than forest.
Habitat
Dry forest, moist lowland forest, limestone forest and degraded woodland, with a preference for places with palms; also semi-open farmland with trees. It forages on the ground and from low perches for insects and other arthropods, sometimes frogs, snakes and small birds. It nests in old woodpecker holes, especially in palms, and in natural tree cavities and rock crevices; breeding runs from January to June.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation types of the Caribbean.
Range and movements
Only in Cuba and Isla de la Juventud, scattered across the island in forest and wooded country, but local. The species does not occur outside Cuba.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
On the Zapata Peninsula local guides often know palm cavities where a bird roosts by day; a gentle tap on the trunk sometimes brings the owl to the entrance. Otherwise listen at dusk along forest edges.
Conservation status
Not threatened. The loss of old palms and dead trees with woodpecker holes limits nest sites locally.
Scientific name
Margarobyas lawrencii | (Sclater & Salvin, 1868)
Sclater & Salvin described the species in 1868 as Gymnoglaux lawrencii; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Margarobyas was introduced in 2008 by Olson & Suárez. Margarobyas is Greek, from margaritēs 'pearl' and buas 'owl': 'owl of the Pearl of the Antilles', a nickname for Cuba. lawrencii honours the American businessman and ornithologist George Newbold Lawrence (1806–1895). The specimen the first description was based on came from Cuba.