Oriental Scops Owl

Photo by Peter Ericsson
Rangsit, Bangkok, Thailand, April 2003

Otus sunia

Identification

18–21 cm (7-8¼ in)
Two colour morphs: grey-brown and rufous

Distribution

Asia: Russia, Siberia, Mongolia, China, Nepal, Pakistan, India, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Eastern and Western Himalayas, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan
Southeast Asia: Indochina, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Malay Peninsula, Singapore, Borneo, Indonesia, Greater Sundas, Sumatra

Accidental vagrant to the Aleutians in Alaska (1 record).

Taxonomy

Subspecies

Greyish morph
Photo by SeeToh
Dairy Farm Nature Park, Singapore, January 2017

There are 9 subspecies^[1]:

• O. s. sunia:

• Northern Pakistan to Bangladesh and northern India

• O. s. rufipennis:

• Southern India

• O. s. leggei:

• Sri Lanka

• O. s. nicobaricus:

• Nicobar Islands

• O. s. japonicus:

• Breeds Japan, at least partially migratory, but winter range not well documented

• O. s. stictonotus:

• Breeds south-eastern Siberia to north-eastern China, Sakhalin Island and northern Korea; winters south-eastern China south at least to southern Thailand

• O. s. malayanus:

• Southern China (Yunnan to eastern Guangdong); at least partially migratory, wintering to the southern Malay Peninsula and perhaps to northern Sumatra

• O. s. distans:

• northern and eastern Thailand and Indochina

• O. s. modestus:

• Assam to Myanmar, Thailand, Indochina; Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Habitat

Dry deciduous forests, with a preference for the edges and glades of open woodland.

Behaviour

Diet

Their main diet consists of insects and spiders. They also eat rodents and small birds.

Breeding

Their nest is a hollow in a tree trunk.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2016. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2016, with updates to August 2016. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Avibase
3. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved January 2017)

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Oriental Scops Owl. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 5 February 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Oriental_Scops_Owl

External Links

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