Colophon

The bird on the cover of Linux Observability with BPF is a Sunda scops owl (Otus lempiji). Scops are small owls with aigrettes, or tufts of feathers on the head. Sunda scops owls are native to southeast Asia and are also known as Singapore scops owls. Historically, Sunda scops owls live in forests, but they have adapted with urbanization and also live in gardens today.

Sunda scops owls are light brown with black speckles and streaks. They reach about eight inches in height and six ounces in weight. In early spring, the female owls lay two to three eggs in tree hollows. They eat insects (especially beetles) but also hunt rodents, lizards, and small birds.

The piercing cry of a Sunda scops owl is so distinctive that they are commonly called screech owls. Their screech reaches a high pitch at its end and can be repeated as often as every 10 seconds.

Many of the animals on O’Reilly covers are endangered; all of them are important to the world.

The cover illustration is by Suzy Wiviott, based on a black and white engraving from British Birds. The cover fonts are Gilroy Semibold and Guardian Sans. The text font is Adobe Minion Pro; the heading font is Adobe Myriad Condensed; and the code font is Dalton Maag’s Ubuntu Mono.