**2. Material and methods**

The vocal activity of 12 African owl species was recorded in Malawi 1993–1998, and in The Gambia 1998–2004. The main species studied were as follows:

Barn Owl *Tyto alba (Malawi and The Gambia).*

Pearl-Spotted Owl *Glaucidium perlatum (Malawi and The Gambia).*

Southern White-faced Owl *Ptilopsis granti (Malawi).*

Northern White-faced Owl *Ptilopsis leucotis (The Gambia).*

Spotted Eagle Owl *Bubo africanus (Malawi).*

To a lesser extent also African Barred Owlet *Taenioglaux capense*, African Scops Owl *Otus senegalensis*, Eurasian Scop Owl *Otus scops*, Greyish Eagle Owl *Bubo cinerascens*, Milky Eagle Owl *Bubo lacteus* and Pel's Fishing Owl *Bubo peli* have been studied. And a few literature references are given on African Wood Owls *Strix woodfordii* that was rarely heard only in Malawi. Summary of the species studied and the number of observations are listed in **Table 1**.

Direct listening was the method used and mostly at the house gardens or sometimes at lodges and hotels on the balcony. Like most Africans, many evenings and even night hours were spent outside the house but sometimes a good TV program was disturbing the study as was heavy rain and strong wind. Similarly, the annual leave spent in

May–June in Finland explains a low number of observations in those months. Field notes included time, weather especially if something unusual in wind, rain and temperature, and the visibility and phase of the moon.


*Other animal species and some disturbing human activities are also recorded. In the brackets, all abbreviations are used in the text when presenting the results. In this table: No = Number; na = not available; nr = not relevant; and Cft = Cf the text!*

#### **Table 1.**

*Summary of studied 12 owl and number of calls recorded in Malawi 1993–1998 and the Gambia 1998–2004.*
