Endangered’ Forest Owlet Sighted In Kuno National Park, Home To Cheetah, Considered Extinct In 1884

The avian species, also known as Blewitt’s Owl, was first discovered in 1872 by Irish officer and naturalist F R Blewitt in a particular region of Madhya Pradesh and considered extinct after 1884.

The rare bird was rediscovered after 113 years in Nandurbar district of Maharashtra in 1997, creating a ripple among ornithologists and forest officers.

The Forest Owlet was previously found in the eastern part of Madhya Pradesh in Khandwa, Burhanpur and Betul districts.

The avian species, which has an estimated global adult population of around 250, is currently found in fragmented forest areas of Central India, a forest officer said.

According to Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) (wildlife) Subharanjan Sen, a local tourism operator, Labh Yadav, first spotted the Forest Owlet in Parond Beat in the Kuno National Park, which was confirmed by Vivek Patel of the Wildlife Research and Conservation Society, Pune.

This is the first authentic record of the species from Kuno.

The Forest Owlet is a diurnal bird, remaining active between six am- ten am and found perching in tree branches in the rest of the day whereas other owls are nocturnal, hunting in the night and taking rest in the day.

“The sighting of the bird in the Kuno National Park is very significant because of its potential ecological implications for habitat management associated with Project Cheetah”, Mr. Sen told the media.

More surveys on the bird are needed to be done to understand its distribution in Madhya Pradesh, he added.