The Brown Hawk-Owl (Ninox scutulata) or Brown Boobook is an owl which found in South Asia, South China to South-east Asia. It owes its name to its hawk-like appearance.
It is a commonly heard owl in Singapore, but less commonly seen. It has a distinct repeated and soft ‘ooup-ooup’ call at dusk and dawn that once you remember, will be rather easily heard in the Central Catchment Nature Reserve or Bukit Timah. On one of my recent trek through 1.6 km of Rifle Range Link, I heard at least six of them calling just before dawn.
Before 2014, most of my encounter with the owl species was either knowing where it roosted, or there was a deliberate attempt to call it out at a known location. However this year, I decided to actually learn local bird calls and rely more on my hearing senses to track birds. That would proved very useful later in the year. But that is another story for another time.
So on an evening in late February 2014, I decided to explore Venus Loop after work. As I recall, I was looking specifically for a Von Schrenck’s Bittern that I have seen a few days earlier but did not manage to photograph. But there was no bittern that evening, and I decided to walk out. It was past 7pm and it was getting dark.
Halfway through my exit, I heard a very soft call. I couldn’t exactly make out what it was, so I stood still and waited. Another call, and it confirmed my suspicion. There was a distant Brown Hawk-Owl calling. My response was to take out my phone and look through my bird calls library and play a known bird call back to confirm. I did that and then I raised the volume of the phone so that it rang louder. I was hoping to lure the bird out closer. But it would have none of that. It stopped and then started calling again at the same volume and position.