{"id":112921,"date":"2026-07-13T15:15:28","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T09:45:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=112921"},"modified":"2026-07-13T15:15:28","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T09:45:28","slug":"australian-grass-owl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/australian-grass-owl\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian Grass Owl"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Australian Grass Owl Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A rare sighting of an Australian Grass Owl at Maguri Motapung Beel in Assam&#8217;s Tinsukia district has excited birdwatchers and wildlife enthusiasts\u00a0 recently.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>About Australian Grass Owl<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Australian grass owl, also known as the<\/span><b> Eastern grass owl,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is an elusive species of owl in the family Tytonidae.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scientific Name: Tyto longimembris\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Australian Grass Owl <\/b><b>Habitat and Distribution<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It lives in <\/span><b>eastern, southern and southeast Asia<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, parts of<\/span><b> New Guinea<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><b>Australia <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(mainly in Queensland) and the<\/span><b> western Pacific.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It has also been found in the<\/span><b> coastal islands.\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It prefers <\/span><b>grassland habitat<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, including savanna, floodplains and agricultural fields.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the most remarkable aspects of this species is its <\/span><b>preference for roosting and nesting on the ground<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a behavior uncommon among owls.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The owl <\/span><b>constructs its nest amidst tall grass<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, meticulously hidden from view.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Australian Grass Owl <\/b><b>Features<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is a<\/span><b> medium-sized,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> rather slim owl with long slender legs that are sparsely feathered.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Adult males measure from 32 to 38 cm (13 to 15 in) in length, while the larger females can measure from 35 to 42 cm (14 to 17 in).\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The wingspan is from 100 to 116 cm (39 to 46 in).\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>heart-shaped facial disc<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is <\/span><b>white in the male<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><b>pale orange buff with dark speckles in the female.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> It is outlined by a narrow pale ruff with dark edging at the bottom.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>eyes <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">are relatively small (for an owl) and have <\/span><b>buff and black &#8216;tear&#8217; marks <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">below them.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The<\/span><b> upper parts<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of the owl are <\/span><b>chocolate and buff <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">while the<\/span><b> underparts are pale, flushed orange-buff<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and highly spotted.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Australian Grass Owl Conservation Status<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>It is classified as <strong>&#8216;Least Concern&#8217;<\/strong> under the IUCN Red List.<\/p>\n<h2><b>Key Facts about Maguri Motapung Beel<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is a large <\/span><b>freshwater wetland<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> located near the Motapung village of <\/span><b>Assam\u2019s <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tinsukia district.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is located in the <\/span><b>south bank of the Dibru Rive<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">r, which is a <\/span><b>channel of the mighty Brahmaputra <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">River.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Beel is connected to the Dibru River by a system of channels and is very rich in aquatic life.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The wetland, spread over an area of 9.6 sq.km. was declared an<\/span><b> Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">in 1996.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The lake supports approximately 110 species of birds and a large human population, most of whom depend on fishing for a livelihood.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is a major <\/span><b>stopover for wintering migratory birds<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0 It hosts species like the <\/span><b>Greater Adjutant Stork, Spot-billed Pelican, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and various migratory waterfowls during winter months.\u00a0 <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>News<\/b><strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.indiatodayne.in\/assam\/story\/rare-australian-grass-owl-spotted-at-assams-maguri-motapung-beel-1422879-2026-07-12\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">IT<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Australian grass owl, also known as the Eastern grass owl, is an elusive species of owl in the family Tytonidae. Read more about Australian Grass Owl, Habitat and Distribution, Latest News.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":112901,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[8668],"class_list":["post-112921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","tag-australian-grass-owl","no-featured-image-padding"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112921"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112921\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":113000,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112921\/revisions\/113000"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}