While visiting a remote prehistoric site in the southern Philippines, a group of scientists realized they weren’t alone. A rare yellow-eyed creature sat perched above the entrance to the rock shelter and looked at them.
It turned out to be a first-of-its-kind sighting.
Researchers visited Balobok rock shelter in the Sulu archipelago in July 2023 and noticed a camouflaged owl sitting “quietly but alertly” in the vines, according to a study published March 26 in the peer-reviewed Journal of Threatened Taxa.
The owl had “distinctive mustard-yellow eyes” and “a noticeable white patch on its throat,” the study said. Researchers quickly identified it as a Sulu boobook, also known as the Sulu hawk-owl or Ninox reyi.
Sulu boobooks are a vulnerable and poorly known species of owl native to the Sulu archipelago. Unlike most Philippine owls, which make a hooting sound, the Sulu boobook has a “rattling” call, the study said.
Birdlife International estimated that, in 2016, there were “fewer than 1,000” Sulu boobooks left and its population was “declining,” researchers said.
Photos show the rare Sulu boobook seen at Balobok rock shelter. Its coloring is a mix of brown and white that “seemed well adapted to blend into the grayish-brown palette of the rock face,” the study said.
“The owl exhibited a sense of undisturbed tranquility in the presence of observers,” researchers said.
Researchers said their sighting was the first time a Sulu boobook had been recorded at Balobok rock shelter and suggests the species “may have a wider range than previously documented.”
A 2023 video shared on YouTube by Patterns and Rhythms shows the prehistoric site.
Balobok rock shelter is on a small island in the southern Philippines, about 660 miles south of Manila and near the island of Borneo. The site dates back at least 5,100 years and was “accidentally discovered in 1963” by a fisherman when he “took refuge during a sudden downpour.”
The research team included Fauriza Saddari, Yennyriza Abduraup, Adzmer Juaini, Roger Irilis, Khalid Adam, Mary Joyce Guinto-Sali and Richard Muallil.
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