Indian Scops Owl - BirdForum Opus

Otus bakkamoena

Photo by Sumit.
Location: Sultanpur, India

Identification

23-25cm. Small head tufts, or ears. The upperparts are grey or brown, with faint buff spotting. The underparts are buff with fine darker streaking.

The facial disc is whitish or buff, and the eyes are orange or brown. There is a buff neckband. Sexes are similar. The flight is deeply undulating.

Distribution

Pakistan, northern India and the Himalayas east to south China. Also in southeast Iran.

Juvenile
Photo by Alok Tewari
Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, India, June-2013

Taxonomy

Collared Scops Owl, Otus lettia, is sometimes considered a subspecies of the species presented here, Indian Scops Owl. In those publications where the taxon lettia is included in Otus bakkamoena, the common name Collared Scops Owl is used for the combined species.

Subspecies

As currently defined, Indian Scops Owl includes four subspecies¹:

• O. b. deserticolor:

• South Pakistan and southeast Iran

• O. b. gangeticus:

• Northwestern India to lowlands of Nepal

• O. b. marathae:

• Central India

• O. b. bakkamoena:

• South India and Sri Lanka

Habitat

Forests and well-wooded areas.

Behaviour

It nests in a hole in a tree, laying 3-5 eggs.

Nocturnal.

Diet is mainly insects.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2017. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2017, with updates to August 2017. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/

• List of references

Recommended Citation

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

External Links

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