Oriental Scops-Owl
<p><strong>Oriental Scops-Owl:</strong> <em><strong>When a predator becomes prey.</strong></em></p>
<p>Owls are accomplished predators, hunting smaller birds, rodents, invertebrates, and some even subsisting on fish. They have adapted varied hunting strategies, including using their keen eyesight to traverse in near total darkness, relying on their sensitive and directional hearing to pinpoint prey location. They even possess flight feathers that muffle their wing beats! In this case, however, the predator became the prey. In a case of super-predation (a predator killing and eating another predator), an Oriental Scops-Owl <em>Otus sunia</em> was killed by a Crested Hawk-Eagle <em>Nisaetus cirrhatus</em> in the Pench Tiger Reserve, Maharashtra! Such instances, although widely studied, are uncommon, and could be a consequence of competition for the same food sources.</p>
