Tyto javanica (Eastern Barn Owl)

IUCN Status: Not Assessed

If you don’t like owls, you should. This was shot in the Victorian Alps driving around trying to find somewhere to stay late at night.

Another taxonomy related epic follows. You have been warned.

You would think that naming a species as common as barn owls would have been settled long ago, and you'd be dead wrong. As I was. When I first identified this individual, I just labelled it as Tyto alba - the common barn owl. Easy!

Yet when I went to upload this image and scratched a little deeper, I found there are actually three names vying for primacy.

Firstly, and most intuitively, is the aforementioned Tyto Alba, with this Australian population classed as a subspecies: Tyto alba javanica. Intending to expand my knowledge of the species, I turned to my trusted Pizzey and Knight, but alas and alack, could not find Tyto alba. When I did find the species, I was shocked (shocked I tell you) that it was labelled as Tyto delicatula. The Wikipedia page states that in 2004 a couple of authors proposed splitting Tyto alba into various other species. Now, the thing is that there is real incentive for authors to propose splitting species. Assuming it stands, they will be credited with the new species discovery in perpetuity, and some immediate notoriety. Further, a new species classification means there’s another box for birders etc. to tick.

However there appears to be a push for the split to be “revisited”, and here we get to the only pressure curbing over eagerness to split off species: the shame of being wrong and corrected. Ultimately, some eager beaver PHD student will do a genetics study of the relevant populations and determine more scientifically where the species divisions should lay. Until then, we must live with ambiguity that extends to a third name: Tyto javanica.

Tyto javanica is now used instead, according to the Australian Department of the Environment page for this species: “since the species concept is changed”. So to be clear, I believe that they’ve renamed this population because the entire concept of a species is fluid (as I’ve mentioned elsewhere). So in summary, if you showed an “expert” this photo and asked them what species it is you could get any of the following answers, Tyto alba, Tyto alba javanica, Tyto delicatula, or Tyto javanica… and they could all be correct!