Serendib Scops Owl - BirdForum Opus

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Photo © by Rob Hutchinson
Kitugala, Sri Lanka, July 2007

Otus thilohoffmanni

Identification

16.5cm. Short-tail, reddish-brown, yellow to orange eye, but more orange in males. No ear-tufts, weakly defined facial disc, and only the very top parts of the lower leg are feathered.

Distribution

Endemic to a small area in southwest Sri Lanka.
Most records are from Sinharaja and Kitulgala.

Taxonomy

Discovered in 2001.

This is a monotypic species^[1].

Habitat

Rainforests.

Behaviour

Nocturnal.

It roosts close to the ground where it is camouflaged.

Diet

During the first two hours of darkness the owl hunts in the undergrowth for beetles and moths.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2022. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2022. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/

• List of references

Recommended Citation

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

External Links

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