Profile
In flight
Owls
Indian Scops-Owl
Otus bakkamoena
- uncommon
- 48 km/h
- Least Concern
A tree-bark owl with a single soft 'whuk' note that ticks like a metronome through the warm Indian night. Eyes shut by day in plain sight, invisible against the trunk.
- Population
- very large; widespread and common but easily overlooked due to bark-perfect camouflage
- Habitat
- mango and tamarind groves, deciduous woodland, village trees, garden edges, and forested compounds across the Indian subcontinent
- Diet
- moths, beetles, grasshoppers, crickets, small lizards, mice, occasional small birds
- Size
- 0.24 m
- Wingspan
- 0.55 m
