<i>Rare barn owl rescued</i>
A villager rescued a large barn owl, now a rare species in the country, from a bamboo cluster at Dakkhin Nagar village of Chirirbandar upazila in Dinajpur district on Sunday. Injured near its wings, the owl had taken shelter there apparently after being chased by crows, villagers said. The beautiful owl tinged with golden buff and grey at the back is stippled with black and white. Silky white at the chest and stomach, it is normally spotted dark brown. It has a large round head with a monkey-like facial disc. When one looks at the owl from the front, the beak looks pinkish yellow. The eyebrows join between the two eyes and go further down, giving the face a heart-shaped look. Seeing the bird in a bamboo cluster on Sunday morning, Md Aktaruzzaman, a resident of Dakkhin Nagar village, picked it up and secured it in a cage after nursing. Kept in front of Aktaruzzaman's house, the owl has attracted a large number of visitors from the surrounding areas. "Seeing the beautiful wild bird, I felt I should save it. Wildlife watchers said they had never seen such an owl in this area. I will release the bird after its recovery," said Md Akhtaruzzaman. The barn owl always avoids densely populated areas. It normally inhabits barns, deserted buildings, ancient structures and ruins, forest officials said. Several bird watchers said they had never seen barn owl in the district earlier. The nocturnal bird spends the daytime standing upright and comes out after dusk, to hunting for small creatures, especially rats.
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