Buffy Fish Owl

The buffy fish owl, also known as the Malay fish owl, is the smallest fish owl species, 40–48 cm long and weighing 1,028–2,100 g. It is buff brown with darker tawny-brown feathers on the back, a paler face with light brown eyebrows, prominent ear tufts, and wing and tail feathers broadly barred yellowish and dark brown. It lives in tropical forest and freshwater wetlands near rivers, lakes and aquaculture sites up to about 1,600 m (Wikipedia, general species account).

Unlike fish-eating diurnal raptors, fish owls do not submerge any part of the body when hunting, putting only their feet into the water, though they wade into the shallows. Their feathers are not soft to the touch and lack the comb and hair-like fringes to the primaries that let other owls fly silently. It also forages on carrion, and the egg is dull white. The cached account is centred on Southeast Asia. SoIB 2023 lists it as a resident forest bird that eats vertebrates and carrion, without a priority category (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).