{{Short description|Species of owl}} {{Speciesbox | image = Vermiculated fishing owl (Scotopelia bouvieri).jpg | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 12 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2018 |title=''Scotopelia bouvieri'' |volume=2018 |article-number=e.T22689048A130158713 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22689048A130158713.en |access-date=12 November 2021}}</ref> | status2 = CITES_A2 | status2_system = CITES | status2_ref = <ref>{{Cite web|title=Appendices {{!}} CITES|url=https://cites.org/eng/app/appendices.php|access-date=2022-01-14|website=cites.org}}</ref> | taxon = Scotopelia bouvieri | authority = [[Richard Bowdler Sharpe|Sharpe]], 1875 | synonyms = }}
The '''vermiculated fishing owl''' ('''''Scotopelia bouvieri''''', syn. '''Bubo bouvieri''') is a species of [[owl]] in the family [[Strigidae]]. It is found within riverine forest in [[Angola]], [[Cameroon]], [[Central African Republic]], [[Republic of the Congo]], [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]], [[Gabon]], and [[Nigeria]]. This species was [[Species description|first described]] by British zoologist [[Richard Bowdler Sharpe]] in 1875 and named in honour of French naturalist [[Eugène Louis Bouvier]].
==Description== The vermiculated fishing owl is a large, earless owl with a total length of {{convert|46|to|51|cm|0|abbr=on}}. The facial disc is a pale reddish-brown with an inconspicuous darker brown rim. The eyes are dark brown and the bill yellowish-brown with a darker tip. The crown is streaked with dark brown. The upper parts are cinnamon-brown finely marked with dark brown vermiculations. Across the shoulders, the outer webs of the feathers are whitish making a pale horizontal streak. The flight feathers and the tail feathers are barred. The underparts are whitish, heavily marked with dark streaks. The underwing and undertail coverts and the thighs are whitish and unstreaked. The legs and feet are yellow and unfeathered.<ref name=Konig2010>{{cite book|author1=König, Claus |author2= Weick, Friedhelm |author3= Becking, Jan-Hendrik |title=Owls of the World |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o_fUBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA349 |year=2010 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-4081-3578-5 |page=349}}</ref>
==Distribution and habitat== The vermiculated fishing owl is [[endemic]] to a large area of tropical west-central Africa extending from southern Nigeria in the west to South Sudan in the east and northern Angola to the south. This bird is not migratory.<ref name=BI>{{cite web |url=http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=2235 |title=Vermiculated Fishing-owl ''Scotopelia bouvieri'' |publisher=BirdLife International |access-date=2015-03-10}}</ref> Its habitat is [[gallery forest]]s along rivers that are at least {{convert|10|m|0|abbr=on}} wide, and pools and flooded areas in forests; it sometimes occurs away from water.<ref name=Konig2010/>
==Behaviour== The vermiculated fishing owl is nocturnal and fishes from a perch on a low branch beside a large river, snatching fish from the water and also feeding on frogs, crabs, small mammals, and birds.<ref name=Konig2010/> In many places, crustaceans may be the most frequently eaten food. It roosts during the day in a tree near a river.<ref name=Konig2010/><ref name=HBW/> In southern Nigeria its favourite food appears to be ''[[Clarias]]'' catfish which have primitive lungs and rise to the surface periodically to breathe.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Turk, Anthony |year=2000 |title=Fishing Owls at Agenbode, Nigeria |journal=African Bird Club Bulletin |volume=September |issue=2 |pages=107–108 |doi=10.5962/p.309608 |url=http://www.africanbirdclub.org/bulletins/abc-bulletin-72-september-2000/fishing-owls-agenbode-nigeria |doi-access=free |archive-date=2021-12-03 |access-date=2015-03-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211203130623/https://www.africanbirdclub.org/bulletins/abc-bulletin-72-september-2000/fishing-owls-agenbode-nigeria |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Its voice is a low, croaking hoot, followed by four to eight [[staccato]] notes. A pair of owls often sing in duet, and being a fairly common species, several pairs of owls can sometimes be heard from the same locality.<ref name=Konig2010/><ref name=HBW>{{cite web |url=http://www.hbw.com/node/55030 |title=Vermiculated Fishing-owl (''Scotopelia bouvieri'') |work=Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive |publisher=Lynx Edicions, Barcelona |access-date=2015-03-10}}</ref>
Breeding takes place from May to at least October and possibly later. The courtship involves much vocal duetting and the nesting site may be a pre-existing large stick nest. Little is known of the bird's breeding biology, but is probably similar to that of [[Pel's fishing owl]] (''Scotopelia peli''). The young are slow to mature.<ref name=Konig2010/>
==Status== The vermiculated fishing owl has a very wide range in tropical west-central Africa amounting to a total area of about {{convert|3333000|km2|abbr=on}}. Within this range, the bird seems relatively common and the population trend stable, so the [[international Union for Conservation of Nature]] lists its conservation status as being of "[[least concern]]".<ref name=BI/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q22235158}}
[[Category:Scotopelia|vermiculated fishing owl]] [[Category:Birds of Central Africa]] [[Category:Owls of Sub-Saharan Africa|vermiculated fishing owl]] [[Category:Birds described in 1875|vermiculated fishing owl]] [[Category:Taxonomy articles created by Polbot]]