Forest Owlet

The Forest Owlet (Athene blewitti) is an owl that is endemic to the forests of central India. This species belongs to the typical owls family, Strigidae. After it was described in 1873 and last seen in the wild in 1884, it was considered extinct until it was rediscovered 113 years later in 1997 by Pamela Rasmussen. Searches for the species in the supposed locality where it had been collected had failed and it was found the source of misinformation had been specimens that had been stolen by Richard Meinertzhagen and resubmitted with false location information. It is known from a small number of localities and the populations are very low within the fragmented and shrinking forests of central India, leaving the species critically endangered.