srin bya

screech owl; 'ug pa [RY]

owl?, asio otus linnaeus, demon-bird, nocturnal bird, owl [JV]

owl [IW]

owl, long-eared owl, screech owl, or nocturnal bird. Lit. "worm owl" (srin bu'i bya) or "ghost bird" (srin po'i bya), the latter being the usual reading, the ghastly associations surely due to the nocturnal activities of these birds. The exact species seems somewhat unclear, and more research is needed, but it is possibly Asio otus (otus linneaus), the northern long-eared owl, a species with a very large range extending across northern Eurasia as well as Mediterranean islands, northwestern Africa, the Middle East and northern Pakistan, with isolated populations in the Azores, China and Tibet. [Erick Tsiknopoulos]