Brown Fish Owl

The brown fish owl is a large owl, 48–61cm long with a wingspan of 125–140cm and a weight of 1.1–2.5kg, females larger than males. It has prominent ear tufts, rufous-brown upperparts heavily streaked with black or dark brown, and buff to whitish underparts with wavy dark streaks and fine barring. The throat is white and conspicuously puffed out, the facial disc indistinct, the eyes golden yellow and the bill dark; its bare feet are yellow. It is slightly larger and darker than the buffy fish owl (Wikipedia, general species account).

Of the four living fish owls it is the most widespread, common and best studied, resident across most of the tropical and subtropical Indian subcontinent and South-east Asia, with scattered populations west to the Levant and southern Turkey. Its typical habitat is forest and woodland bordering streams, lakes or rice fields. It was first described in 1788 from a picture drawn by a Ceylonese artist. In India it is resident with a large range. SoIB 2023 estimates a long-term decline of about 45% and a current fall of about 3.5% a year, and rates it a Moderate conservation priority (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).