Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin (ISSN 0178 – 6288) . Number 142, October 2016, pp. 1-13. | Page 4

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The Desert Tawny Owl (Strix hadorami) lives in the Eastern Desert of Egypt, from
Wadi Rabdeit, close to the border with Sudan, north to Mons Porphyrites,
northwest of the port of Hurghada, as well as the Sinai Desert, e.g. around St
Katherine’s Monastery, through southern and eastern Palestine, in the Naqab
(Negev) and Jerusalem (Judean) Deserts, to Jordan, where apparently confined to
the eastern fringe of the Jordan Valley and the Rum Desert in the southeast of the
country, thence south across western and, more locally, northern, central and
northeastern Saudi Arabia, apparently throughout Yemen, and east to southwest
Omani Dhofar (Prostak, 2015).
“Strix hadorami occurs in rocky desert areas with ravines, cliffs and small caves,
particularly in deep wadis with crevices for nesting and roosting and some
vegetation. It is most frequent in limestone cliffs, but also occurs in granitic and
basaltic regions of Saudi Arabia, and sandstone regions of Jordan,” the scientists
wrote (Prostak, 2015).
Analysis of pellets in Palestine reveals that the diet of the bird mostly comprises
rodents and small insectivores (gerbils, jirds, mice and shrews), geckos, some
passerine birds, and arthropods such as scorpions, grasshoppers and beetles
(Prostak, 2015).

Owl specimens. https://twitter.com/IBIS_journal/status/553204501918650370/photo/1
Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin – Number 142 – October 2016