Mountain Scops Owl

Otus spilocephalus (Blyth, 1846)

≈22 cmLength68 gWeight

The mountain scops owl (Otus spilocephalus), sometimes referred to as the spotted scops owl, is a species of owl in the family Strigidae.

Busiest months: February–March · Most records: China, Malaysia, Thailand

Least Concern

How to identify

Voice

Short, high-pitched calls resembling two whistles, such as “plew-plew” or “he-he”; calls vary between populations.

Where and when it's recorded

Mountain Scops Owl has been recorded at 252 of the 8,171 birding hotspots we track, in 12 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

Bukit FraserMalaysia354 records
Jianfengling NNRChina237 records
Kinabalu Park – HQ areaMalaysia223 records

More places

Nantou – Xitou Nature Education AreaTaiwan (China)160 records
Munsyari – Bheema WodeyarIndia143 records
Taipei – Tianliaoyang WetlandTaiwan (China)108 records
Chiang Dao Wildlife Sanctuary – Wat Tham Pha PlongThailand95 records
Bach Ma NPVietnam82 records
Mahananda WLS – LatpancharIndia74 records
Doi Pha Hom Pok NP – Doi AngkhangThailand70 records

Countries and regions with the most records

China Malaysia Thailand India Vietnam Bhutan Nepal Cambodia

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

The mountain scops owl (Otus spilocephalus), sometimes referred to as the spotted scops owl, is a species of owl in the family Strigidae. Its range extends across much of south and southeast Asia, from Pakistan and the Himalayas in the northwest, through Taiwan (China), Thailand and Malaysia in the east and south.

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia