African grass owl

African grass owl
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Strigiformes
Family:	Tytonidae
Genus:	Tyto
Species:	T. capensis
Binomial name
Tyto capensis (Smith, 1834)

Grass owl chick rescued from a veld fire and rehabilitated onto Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve in the Gauteng province of South Africa

The African grass owl (Tyto capensis) is a species of owl in the Tytonidae family. It is found in Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

The African grass owl Tyto capensis is considered Vulnerable in South Africa, with between 1 000 and 5 000 birds remaining in this country (Barnes (ed.), 2000). The species is extirpated in south-western South Africa and Lesotho, and the combined pressure from development; fire mismanagement; land clearing for agriculture; overgrazing; afforestation and roadkill are of serious concern for the species (Ansara, 2004).

Grass owls differ in appearance from their cousins the barn owl in being larger, with stronger contrast between the upper and lower body. The upperparts are dark brown and the underparts whitish. The face is also rounder than that of the barn owl.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tyto capensis.

External links

• (African) Grass Owl - Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds.
• Handbook of the Birds of the World

• Grass Owl - Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds.