Small but mighty | On foot in the African Bush Part IV

African Barred Owlets are partly diurnal and you can often hear them calling at dusk and dawn. During the day, they can spend hours perched on low branches, watching the ground below. They mostly hunt invertebrates but have been observed to eat birds as big as them, such as drongos! For that reason, smaller birds often mob them if they manage to spot the owlet. 

Cryptic colouration allows the African Barred Owlet to completely camouflage in trees

This bird’s incredible cryptic camouflage helps them not only avoid predation from larger owls but also successfully catch prey. Whereas larger owl species have specialised feathers that funnel air smoothly over the wings to muffle the sound of them flying, these smaller owls lack this adaptation. Instead, they rely on their camouflage to go unnoticed despite the daylight. They will observe from a perch and, when ready, swoop down to catch their unsuspecting prey.

Although their numbers are plentiful in the wild, African Barred Owlets’ are locally threatened in South Africa and the population in the Eastern Cape has been cut off from the rest of their range. While historically they could be found along the coast of KwaZulu-Natal, there have been no recent records, probably due to the loss of native forest. 

Sources:

• John Llewellyn. “African Barred Owlet.” Ingwelala. August 25, 2021. Accessed October 10, 2024. https://www.ingwelala.co.za/archives/fauna-flora/african-barred-owlet.html

• Holt, D. W., R. Berkley, C. Deppe, P. L. Enríquez, J. L. Petersen, J. L. Rangel Salazar, K. P. Segars, K. L. Wood, J. S. Marks, and P. F. D. Boesman (2022). African Barred Owlet (Glaucidium capense), version 1.1. In Birds of the World (P. G. Rodewald, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.afbowl1.01.1

• Eco Training TV (2022) African Barred Owls | Birds of the Bush. YouTube [Online Video]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7YHXSRxmnA [11 October 2024].