Pel's Fishing-owl

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Pel's Fishing-owl

Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Strigiformes
Family: Strigidae
Genus: Scotopelia
Species: S. peli
Binomial name
Scotopelia peli
(Bonaparte, 1850)

The Pel's Fishing-owl (Scotopelia peli) is a large species of owl in the Strigidae family. It feeds nocturnally on fish snatched from the surface of lakes and rivers. The species prefers slow moving rivers with large overhanging trees to roost and forage from.[2] It nests in hollows and the forks of large trees. Though two eggs are laid, only one chick is raised.

It is found in Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

[edit] Source

  1. ^ BirdLife International 2004. Scotopelia peli. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 24 July 2007.
  2. ^ Simmons RE & Brown CJ (2006). Birds to watch in Namibia: red, rare and endemic species. National Biodiversity Programme, Windhoek, Namibia