Jungle Owlet

The jungle owlet, or barred jungle owlet, is a small owlet of the Indian subcontinent with a rounded head, no clear facial disc and fine barring all over. The upperparts are dark black-brown barred with white, the underparts whitish or pale rufous barred black, the iris yellow and the bill greenish. It is often found singly, in pairs or in small groups, and is usually detected by its calls at dawn and dusk (Wikipedia, general species account).

The nominate form occurs on the plains of India and Sri Lanka; the Western Ghats form is shorter-tailed and may deserve species status. In Sri Lanka the chestnut-backed owlet, once a subspecies, is the wet zone bird, while the jungle owlet is found in drier forests. Nationally Near Threatened (Sri Lanka National Red List 2012).