Spotted Wood Owl In Chinatown?

In the heart of the oldest part of Chinatown, at the corner of Amoy St and Boon Tat St, where there is a small green (with a few trees) next to Tian Hock Keng, one of the oldest Chinese temples in Singapore, I spotted an owl flying into the tree. I thought it was a bat, but it stopped for me to identify that it was an owl!

With friends, we have just had a wonderful porridge at the New Taiwan Restaurant, and were talking to our cars. Thanks to Tim who had a digital camera with him, even though conditions were bad, it was good enough for him to identify the owl as a Spotted Wood Owl. This was later verified by Subaraj, Singapore's first registered Nature Guide (serin@swiftech.com.sg), thanks to Prof. Wee YC ( http://www.besgroup.blogspot.com/)

In the part of the city where there's less greens than others, it is indeed surprising to see an owl there, and for me, it is a lifer. Thanks to Prof. Wee, I am using his picture of the Spotted Wood Owl to show a clearer view of this beautiful bird.

Acknowledgements: Prof.WeeYC, Subaraj, Tim