Sri Lanka Bay Owl

The Sri Lanka bay owl is found on the island of Sri Lanka and in the Western Ghats in Kerala, south-western India. It was long treated as a subspecies of the Oriental bay owl but is now a full species because of its distinctive call, plumage and separate distribution. The nominate subspecies is listed for central and southern Sri Lanka (Wikipedia, species account).

The Indian form is secretive and rarely recorded, sometimes detected only when injured birds are found. The breeding season is in winter, when the song of multiple inflected whistles can be heard. Nationally Endangered (Sri Lanka National Red List 2012, listed as the Oriental Bay-owl, Phodilus badius, before the split).