Danish scientist believed to have discovered new owl species

May 28, 2007, 12:59 GMT

Copenhagen - During an expedition to northern Colombia earlier this year Danish researcher Niels Krabbe sighted a new owl species, reports said Monday.

The owl was a kind of Dwarf Horned Owl, roughly 30 centimetres long.

While visiting a remote area of the Santa Marta mountains, Krabbe heard an owl that sounded differently from the 28 other known species in Colombia.

'It was completely by accident,' Krabbe told Danish news agency Ritzau.

'When I heard it, I knew immediately that it was something new, it had a totally unique song and I know the songs of the other owl species in Colombia,' he added.

The owls lived at an altitude of between 1,500 and 2,600 metres, Krabbe said, adding that the owls he observed ate large beetles but likely also caught rodents.

Krabbe of the Zoological Museum of Copenhagen has for many years observed birds in the Andes and other parts of South America and has discovered seven other bird species during his expeditions.

Establishing which species the new owl was related to hinged on DNA testing, Krabbe said, and a specimen would have to be caught to do so.

The Santa Marta mountains are famed for endemic species.

'It is a very exciting area. There are more than 80 species and sub-species of birds that can only be seen there,' Krabbe said.

The area was however under threat due to ongoing logging that risked the habitat of the birds and the indigenous Indian population, he said.