*3.3.5 Giant or Milky Eagle Owl B. lacteus*

In Malawi, we got a young MEO what Dr. Lawrence had confiscated from beachboys in Senga Bay on 11/09/1994 (**Figure 1**). It was estimated that the owl was born ca. 22 August. A month later the weight was already about 500 g and wing feathers showing already. Two-month old was flying fluently. This owl was in the house until 14/04/95 but stayed in the garden even after that. As a farewell show, it started calling in a tree where we had a nest box. Between 22:00 and 23:30, it was calling loudly without any breaks. That made the dogs crazy, but they calmed down when told that it is our owl. MEO kept calling even if we walked with the dogs in the garden. In July 1995, John Alder found an MEO nest in Lilongwe Nature Sanctuary, not far from the house. It was tempting to think it was our owl. It was possible only to post confirm the breeding by finding below the nest a fresh MEO wing feather on 15/11/96.

In the Gambia, MEO was seen in both Abuko and Tendaba in December 2003, but no calls were recorded; in Kiang West National Park MEO pair duetting near the camp in 1998 but timing was not taken down (John Clayton, *in litt*.); Janjanpureh Safari Camp MEO calling bouts heard two times during the night on 11/01/2002.

### **Figure 1.**

*Young Milky Eagle Owl* Bubo lacteus *(left) and Spotted Eagle Owl* Bubo africanus *in their large open-air closure in our house in Malawi. Photo: Heimo Mikkola.*

### *3.3.6 Greyish Eagle Owl B. cinerascens*

After having kept three GEOs at home both in Ivory Coast (1983–1984) and one in The Gambia (2001–2002) to recover from serious mal-handling of humans, we never heard them calling. Based on that, it was concluded that GEO is a much more silent species than the closely related Spotted-Eagle Owl many of which had also been recuperated at our home in Malawi [10]. Luckily the modern sound recordings from The Gambia of breeding and non-breeding GEOs have proven that this owl is not mute. Clive Barlow's recordings will be part of an extensive study to be undertaken by Magnus Robb of the Sound recordings [11].
