CLICK ON ORIGINAL
kithulgala, Sri Lanka 2013

This is one of the 26 endemic birds of Sri Lanka we got to see this trip.

This thiny owl (16,5 cm) is the most recently discovered bird of Sri Lanka.
It was originally located by its unfamiliar poo-ooo call in the Kitulgala rainforest.
Six years later, it was finally seen on 23 January 2001 in Sinharaja, and formally described as a new species in 2004.
By the end of January 2006, about 80 Serendib scops-owls were known to exist.
Since the species has such a small population, and restricted range of just 230 square kilometres, the owl has been officially classified on the IUCN Red List as Endangered.