The brown fish owl (Ketupa zeylonensis) belongs to the family Strigidae under the order Strigiformes.
The Ketupa zeylonensis is typified by an "upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers adapted for silent flight". It inhabits subtropical and tropical regions of continental Asia.
The species Ketupa zeylonensis is not considered as threatened species by the IUCN "International Union for Conservation of Nature". However, there is steady decline in the population size and range of this species.
These species have become apparently extinct in Israel, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. Tourism disturbance from humans, draining and drying up of feeding habitats and poisoning of other prey animals has lead to increasing decline in their numbers.
The extirpation of these species in Israel is considered as the effect of massive scale poisoning of rodents with agricultural chemicals and also the draining of marshland around Lake Hula in 1950s to control mosquitoes. It was later flooded to revive a nearly extinct ecosystem.
In India, thousands of owls are poached for sacrifice during Diwali to bring wealth and prosperity.
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| 1.Brown fish owl (Ketupa zeylonensis) image by Prasanna Belur |
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| 2.Ketupa zeylonensis by Koshy Koshy |
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| 3.Ketupa zeylonensis image by Baluperoth |
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| 4.Ketupa zeylonensis image by Baluperoth |
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| 5.by N. A. Naseer |
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| 6.by Siddharth Biniwale |
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| 7.Image by Abhinavsharmamr |
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| 8.Image by Anil B. Patel |
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| 9.image by Fitindia |
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| 10.Brown fish owl image by Challiyil Eswaramangalath Pavithran Vipin |
1.Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Western_Ghat_Brown_fish_owl.jpg (cropped)
Author: Prasanna Belur | License: CC BY-SA 4.0
2.Image source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/kkoshy/8566795379/ (cropped)
Author: Koshy Koshy | License: CC BY 2.0 as on 4/6/17
3.Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brown_Fish_Owl_(Ketupa_zeylonensis)_of_Thrissur,_Kerala.JPG (cropped)
Author: Baluperoth | License: CC BY-SA 4.0
4.Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brown_Fish_Owl_(Ketupa_zeylonensis)_in_Thrissur,_Kerala.JPG (cropped)
Author: Baluperoth | License: CC BY-SA 4.0
5.Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brown_fish_owl_by_N_A_Nazeer.jpg (cropped)
Author: N. A. Naseer / www.nilgirimarten.com / naseerart@gmail.com | License: CC BY-SA 2.5 IN
6.Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brown_Fish_OWL.jpg (cropped)
Author: Siddharth Biniwale | License: CC BY-SA 4.0
7.Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brown_Fish_Owl_Ranthambore_Rajastan.jpg (cropped)
Author: Abhinavsharmamr | License: CC BY-SA 4.0
8.Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brown_Fish_owl_in_Gir_Forest.jpg (cropped)
Author: Anil B. Patel | License: CC BY-SA 4.0
9.Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brown_Fish_Owl_1.jpg (cropped)
Author: Fitindia | License: CC BY-SA 4.0
10.Image source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/challiyan/2335553694/in/set-72157603299172223/ (cropped)
Author: Challiyil Eswaramangalath Pavithran Vipin | License: CC BY-SA 2.0 as on 4/6/17
Current topic in Birds of India: Brown fish owl images