Talk:Ascalaphus

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Screech owls are a New World bird, so the myth couldn't be that he was transformed into a screech owl. The Scops owl is an old world bird sometimes (incorrectly) called a screech owl, and the Eurasian scops owl Otus scops is endemic to Greece. The pharaoh owl is Bubo ascalphus. Though it is not found in modern Greece, the Eurasian eagle owl Bubo bubo, a close relative, is.

50.232.253.66 (talk) 19:27, 13 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]

As to what kind of owl it was, we need to stick with whatever the sources say it was. And in fact, I believe different sources said different things (see Apollodorus, 1.5.3, with Frazer's note 2, and 2.5.12, with note 10). For now I've simply changed it to owl. Paul August ☎ 09:38, 14 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]

A couple of more relevant sources: W. Geoffrey Arnott, Birds in the Ancient World from A to Z p. 17, and Desmond Morris, Owl p. 26. Paul August ☎ 09:58, 14 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]