A pair of Himalayan wood owls, a rare bird species, has been sighted at Thumkerani in ward 6 of Maijogmai Rural Municipality in Ilam district.

Wildlife photographer Deven Kharel captured the birds during a wildlife survey organised on the occasion of Clouded Leopard Day, marked on August 4.

Kharel worked alongside former chairman of Koshi Bird Society Anish Timsina during a week-long field observation. The species, scientifically known as Strix nivicolum, is listed as “of least concern” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and is included under CITES Appendix II.

Although the species is distributed across the western Himalayas of Pakistan and India, Nepal, Bhutan, eastern Tibet, northeastern Myanmar, China, Korea, and parts of Taiwan, it is rarely seen in Nepal, according to ornithologists. The owls generally inhabit forests at elevations between 1,000 metres and 3,600 metres above sea level.

The pair was spotted at around 2,350 meters. They prefer mixed forests of pine and rhododendron. The Himalayan wood owl has a round head without ear tufts, a greyish-white facial disc, and brown body with streaked underparts.

Mostly active at dusk and night, the species feeds on rodents, frogs, small birds, moths, and large insects. It breeds between late winter and spring.

Conservationists warn that habitat destruction poses a long-term threat to its survival. During the same survey, Kharel and Timsina documented 130 summer bird species across eastern Ilam’s highlands.