The Minahassa Masked Owl (Tyto inexspectata), also known as the Minahassa Barn Owl, Sulawesi Owl or Sulawesi Golden Owl, is an endemic barn owl living on Sulawesi, Indonesia. The name is derived from the Minahassa Peninsula, where it was first described as a breeding bird; however, it is also known to live in north-central Sulawesi.
The Minahassa Masked Owl has short wings with wingspan of 240–250 mm well suited to its habitat in deep forests. It appears to prefer undisturbed or lightly disturbed rainforest at an altitude of 100-1,600 m. As the primary lowland forests on the Minahasa peninsula has been destroyed, the survival of the species depends on the more inaccessible montane forests. The species is known to inhabit the two large protected regions (Bogani Nani Wartabone and Lore Lindu National Parks) established in central Sulawesi and Minahassa Peninsula. The remaining population is estimated to be 2,500 – 10,000.
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“For sounds in winter nights, and often in winter days, I heard the forlorn but melodious note of a hooting owl indefinitely far; such a sound as the frozen earth would yield if struck with a suitable plectrum, the very lingua vernacula of Walden Wood, and quite familiar to me at last, though I never saw the bird while it was making it.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)