Archonyctis maurisca

Black-legged Woga (Archonyctis maurisca)
Size: 4-6 feet in height, wingspan of up to 10 feet
Family: Archonyctidae (in strigiformes)
Range: throughout the Appalachian Prairie
Habitat: light woodland, grassland

The wogas are a family of strigiforme birds (owls) unique to North America. They are derived from the barn owls of the Tyto genus.
Archonyctids number about seven species, all of which either reside within the Appalachian Prairie or the Mid-West Desert. Wogas are crane-sized owls that are nocturnal hunters, but are more active during the day than their ancestral stock.

The black-legged woga is the largest of the family and one of the most widespread. Another common prairie species is A. notos, and a common desert species is the especially gangly A. rhysidactyla.

A. maurisca is a typical woga, albeit large. Its plumage is drab and it has black legs, the lower half of which are featherless. Wogas retain the zygodactyl killing talons of their owl ancestors, however, the back toes are flexible enough to be kept off the ground when walking. Many wogas, like the black-legged, have large crests. These crests aren’t usually brightly colored and are held by both genders.
Wogas do not have difficulty flying, and often have to flee from predators. They do not usually hunt from the air, for favor of stalking prey on the ground. They do, occasionally, make use of their ancestors’ anti-noise feathers to glide down from a tree, cactus, or high point to pin down an animal using the large talons.
Usually, wogas will track prey as silently as possible in the nighttime hours. Even if prey hears them, the wogas’ long legs are quite capable of allowing chase.

They tend to take prey like rabbits, rodents, and small, young hooved animals like cervids or bovids. A. maurisca is notorious for picking off newborn arcahooves silently from the herd in the night.
It is in this way that the wogas have earned their place as a predator; by hunting at night. They are able to take prey too large for their other owl cousins and at hours too late for aerial competition.
In “down” hours, wogas can be found sluggishly taking to abandoned burrows, constructed burrows, or in the shade and branches of trees.

Plains wogas like the black-legged and the peppery (A. notos) are in competition with predators like deesols and bovivores (although bovivores tend to be more diurnal). The two desert species (A. rhysidactyla and Macrotyto cacticola) are in competition with the desert strider (Deinocuculus sp.), a giant flightless predatory roadrunner descendant.