African Grass-owl

How The Peregrine Fund is helping

Though The Peregrine Fund isn't currently working directly with African Grass-owls, our efforts in scientific research, habitat conservation, education, and community development help conserve birds of prey around the world. We also supply literature to researchers from our avian research library, which helps scientists around the world gather and share important information on raptor conservation.

Where they live

Just thinking about this owl's name, you can make a pretty good guess as to where it lives and what habitat it prefers. If you said it lives in Africa and prefers grasslands, you would be correct! The African Grass-owl is found throughout a generous area of sub-Saharan Africa, including in parts of Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, the highlands of Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, and Cameroon. 

It spends most of its time in both dry and moist grasslands and open savanna. It also can be found in marshes and grassy areas around shallow, seasonal lakes, or in shrubland or acacia scrub.

What they do

Just like the related Common Barn-owl, the African Grass-owl has a beautiful, off-white heart-shaped facial disk rimmed with buff colored feathers. Overall, it is covered in dark brown feathers, its breast is a creamy off-white speckled with coffee-colored spots. It has dark eyes and a pale bill.

Because this species tends to be most active at night, it spends much of its days roosting on the ground in tall grass. It creates tunnels by stomping down the surrounding grass. These tunnels can be quite long and even connect with other tunnels. A dome platform they create at the end of a tunnel is where they prefer to roost. Sometimes a pair of owls may roost together, and sometimes even several owls choose to rest huddled close together.

It has a screech-like call, similar to that of the Common Barn-owl, but less harsh sounding.

Why they need our help

Even though this species is categorized as Least Concern, it still faces threats to its survival. Much of its habitat is being degraded due to agricultural practices. Because it can be found relatively close to areas of high human activity, it might also be more readily exposed to certain environmental contaminants. 

Though perhaps not as common, they can also fall prey to other predators. In fact, one researcher documented an African Marsh-harrier consuming a young African Grass-owl. 

What they eat

Get ready to read a long menu of items that African Grass-owls enjoy feasting on. While their favorite meal seems to be composed of rodents or other small mammals, including Duthie's Golden Mole, African Marsh Rat, and the Cape Mole-rat. It has also been documented feeding on hedgehogs, shrews, hares, bats, frogs, birds and termites.

As you can imagine, a bird with a varied diet also employs a number of different hunting strategies in order to catch its prey. Sometimes it catches its quarry after flying low over the ground, snatching up unsuspecting snacks from the ground. It also might adopt a "sit and wait" technique, whereby it literally sits and waits for something tasty to walk, fly or hop by. 

Once it has made a successful catch, it might feed directly on the ground or it may carry its prey to a perch before feeding.

Nests, eggs and young

The African Grass-owl, true to its name, also nests in grass! It lays its eggs in a shallow depression  lined with grass. This is usually placed the end of a grass tunnel. The female will lay two to four white eggs. The female does all of the incubating, which she must do for over a month—up to 42 days! During this time, the male is hard at work too. He is responsible for finding food for himself and for the female.

After the owlets hatch, the female will continue to be their sole care-giver until they are around ten days old. After that, both the male and female will feed the chicks. The owlets will grow quickly and in just a five weeks, they will start to roam around the nest, exploring the tunnels and the outside world. When they are just seven weeks old, they will be ready to take their first flights.

After they have started flying, the young will remain in their parents' territory for another three weeks learning how to hunt and how to stay safe in the big, wide world. After those few weeks, they will disperse and are then 100% reliant only on themselves to find food, avoid dangers and to survive.

African Grass-owl and the World Center for Birds of Prey

The World Center for Birds of Prey offers fun ways to learn about birds of prey. Interactive activities, tours, interesting videos and a children's room with activities from coloring sheets to quizzes to costumes. Owls are included among the education birds at the visitor center, providing visitors with a wonderful opportunity to see owls up close and learn about the wonderful and interesting adaptations they have in order to survive in their respective habitats. There is also a touch table with owl feathers and other natural objects available for exploration. Come for a visit where our knowledgable staff and volunteers are on hand to answer your questions about African Grass-owls or any other bird of prey.

Resources:

BirdLife International 2016. Tyto capensis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T22688514A93199287. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22688514A93199287.en. Downloaded on 15 April 2020.

Bruce, M.D. & Marks, J.S. (2020). African Grass-owl (Tyto capensis). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. (retrieved from https://www.hbw.com/node/54932 on 15 April 2020).

Harrison, J.A., Allan, D.G., Underhill, L.G., Herremans, M., Tree, A.J., Parker, V. & Brown, C.J. (eds). 1997. The atlas of southern African birds. Vol. 1: Non-passerines. BirdLife South Africa, Johannesburg. http://sabap2.birdmap.africa/docs/sabap1/393.pdf

https://www.owlpages.com/owls/species.php?s=210

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_grass_owl