The Brown Boobok formerly known as Brown Hawk-Owl

This pair of Brown Boobooks (formerly known as the Brown Hawk-owl) was snoozing away that late afternoon on this tree in one of the trails near a housing area in the State of Selangor. It's not easy to see owls nearby the city. Thanks to a birdwatching friend of mine from Malacca who kindly shared the accurate Google Map location with me, I was able to squeeze in some time to birdwatch a bit at the trails. Blue-winged Leafbirds, Crimson-breasted Flowerpecker were surprise finds that afternoon before I arrived at the roosting site of the owls. For purpose of avian study, that afternoon's finding was recorded in a checklist HERE for eBird Malaysia.

Half-asleep Brown Boobook (above pic) compared to fully asleep (below pic)

 

The second Boobook's head was really droopy and it stood out from the more vigilant one above it:) 

 

The vigilant one

Owls are not meant to be kept as pets. A friend of mine once took care of a lost baby owl. It was found in a car park of a golf course in Johor Bahru by her husband. I had strongly encouraged her to return the baby owl back to where it was found, since it could have just dropped out of a nest and its mother could be searching for it. She hesitated. It was not easy to convince my friend that owls were not meant to be kept as pets. The cuteness of this baby owl did not help its cause. My friend tried her best to take care of the baby owl which turned out to be a Sunda Scops Owl species. Its head tufts started to develop as it grew older. My friend did try to release it to a nearby patch of forest near her residence. Unfortunately, the owl did not take flight. Alas, it appeared to have grown attached to my human friend. The owl died a few days after. On hindsight, I should have persuaded my friend to handover the owl to PERHILITAN.
After seeing this pair of Brown Boobooks (formerly known as Brown Hawk-Owl) which can be considered to be living wild and free from human intervention, I am reminded of the sad outcome for the Sunda Scops Owlet in Johor Bahru. Sunda Scops Owl like all other owl species, should never be kept as pets no matter how cute they look. I came across a very informative website under the International Owl Center on how stewardship of owls remain with the US Fish & Wildlife Service, and that a license is required for a person to keep native owls on strict terms and conditions, the breach of which would result in USFW service taking over. Top ten reasons owls do not make good pets, can be read and viewed in this Centre’s website HERE. The non-stop cleaning should hopefully deter any person to consider keeping owls as a pet. I must remember to share this website whenever a cute owlet or owl "drops" into the residence of any of my friends. #OWLSARENOTPETS

Blue-winged Leafbird (Male) pictured as above and below

Blue-Winged Leafbird - Lessons from Seychelles

 

Blue-winged Leafbird - a flock were flying about and singing in the forest of Selangor/Pahang border that afternoon. One of the many species of leafbirds which are unique to the Asian region. However, due to its melodious calls, the leafbird species are facing a threat in being captured from the wild by poachers and heavily traded in the market, to be sold and kept as pets. It is heartening to read of rescue and conservation efforts in Indonesia such as the one reported HERE. Reading about declining numbers of songbirds and how many of these species are on the brink of extinctions can be disheartening. A silver lining in the dark clouds over such songbird species could be the possibility of saving these species by raising awareness and raising funds to save species from the brink of extinction. When the usual sources of income from Tourism declined, Seychelles turned to Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT) to raise funds for a good cause - to save their critically endangered Seychelles Magpie Robin. Read about this initiative at World Economic Forum website HERE.