NOTEBOOK The Eastern Grass Owl Tyto (capensis) longimembris in Sabah, Malaysia (Borneo) NOOR HISHAM HAMID, HAFIDZI MOHD NOOR, SUKRI TAIB ISMAIL & MOHD ASWAD ABDUL WAHAB 88 BirdingASIA 9 (2008): 88–89 The distribution of the Eastern Grass Owl Tyto longimembris—here treated as specifically distinct from T. capensis—is imperfectly known, but it occurs from India to Vietnam (nominate subspecies longimembris); in China (subspecies chinensis and pithecops, sometimes combined); in the Philippines (subspecies amauronota), New Guinea (subspecies papuensis), Wallacea (Sulawesi, Flores, Sumba: assumed to be the nominate subspecies); and in Australia, New Caledonia and Fiji (former subspecies walleri , now synonymised with longimembris) (del Hoyo et al. 1999, König et al. 1999). This note reports the first breeding record of the Eastern Grass Owl on Borneo in the province of Sabah, Malaysia. The first confirmed record of the owl in Sabah was of a single specimen collected on 12 July 1999 at Ranau, reported as Tyto capensis (Alim et al. 2006). An earlier record was based on a pair of captive Grass Owls in a private collection near Kota Kinabalu (Smythies 1999) but there is no firm evidence that the birds were caught locally (Alim et al., 2006). An adult Grass Owl was first found as a road kill in a mature oil palm area at Felda Plantation Sahabat 47, Lahad Datu, Sabah, by the oil palm Pest Monitoring Team in April–May 2003. An adult owl was found on the main road, during daytime. Unfortunately no photographic record was made at the time. On 16 July 2003 another bird was found dead (Plate 1) on a main road in Felda Sahabat 11, Lahad Datu in the early morning. The team originally thought that the bird was a Barn Owl Tyto alba javanica, the species commonly found in Peninsular Malaysia. However, although the bird’s appearance was different, it prompted no effort to identify the species due to lack of reference material and knowledge limitations. A few days later in July 2003, a plantation supervisor discovered a similar bird with two chicks (Plate 2) in a nest on the ground in a mature oil palm plantation at Felda Agricultural Services Sdn. Bhd. Sahabat 17, Lahad Datu. The location was not far from where the dead owl was found on 16 July. The nest was built on a terraced area with legume ground cover consisting of Calopogonium mucunoides and Pueraria phaseoloides . Photographs were sent to Noor Hisham Hamid and it was confirmed that the species was T. longimembris and not T. alba from the morphology of the chicks and the adults. In November 2004, an owl was found roosting at an oil palm replanting area at FASSB Sahabat 6 (Phase 2), Lahad Datu. In this area the legume ground cover was Mucuna bracteata, but no eggs or chicks were found. In January 2005, another owl was observed flying during daytime in an immature oil palm plantation (18-month-old plants) at FASSB Sahabt 6 (Phase 3), Lahad Datu. And a second nest was discovered on 31 January 2005, during an assessment of a Oryctes rhinoceros insect pest outbreak in the same replanted area at FASSB Sahabat 6 (Phase 3). An adult owl was found with a newly hatched chick and three eggs (Plate 3) in Mucuna bracteata ground cover (Plate 4). Plate 1. Adult Eastern Grass Owl Tyto longimembris found as roadside kill, Sahabat 11, Lahad Datu, Sabah, July 2003. Plate 2. Eastern Grass Owl Tyto longimembris nestling found in nest in mature oil palm plantation, Sahabat 17, Lahad Datu, July 2003. FELDA PEST CONTROL TEAM FELDA PEST CONTROL TEAM