Spotted owlet
The spotted owlet is a small owl which breeds in tropical Asia from North Pakistan to Southeast Asia. A common resident of open habitats including farmland and human habitation, it has adapted to living in cities. They roost in small groups in the hollows of trees or in cavities in rocks and buildings. It nests in a hole in a tree or building, laying 3–5 eggs. The species shows great variation including clinal variation in size and forms a superspecies with the very similar little owl.
Description
The spotted owlet is a small and stocky bird, barely in size. The upperparts are grey-brown, heavily spotted with white. The underparts are white, streaked with brown. The facial disc is pale and the iris is yellow. There is a white neckband and supercilium. Sexes are similar. The flight is deeply undulating. The nominate form is darker than the paler forms such as indica of drier regions.Taxonomy
Early workers sometimes treated members of this species group as subspecies of Athene noctua. The two have been separated but they are considered to form a superspecies complex. Several subspecies have been described and about four or five are widely accepted The five widely recognized subspecies are albida Koelz, 1950 of western Asia in Iran and Pakistan; indica of northern India; brama of southern India which is darker than indica; ultra Ripley, 1948 of northeastern India is said to have white spots on the mantle and "higher pitched calls"; and pulchra Hume, 1873 of Southeast Asia from Myanmar and Thailand extending into Cambodia and Vietnam. The northern and southern Indian populations intergrade and there is no dividing boundary. The northern indica populations have the upperparts brownish. Size decreases from north to south. The species is not found in Sri Lanka, although birds on the Indian mainland are found even at the tip of Rameshwaram.Ecology
Behavior
This species is nocturnal but is often seen during the day. When disturbed from their daytime site, they bob their head and stare at intruders. Their presence can often be located by the small birds that mob the owlets while they are perching in a tree during daytime.The call is a harsh and loud churring and chuckling ' ending with a ' and they call mainly during early dawn or just after sunset.The brain has a pineal gland, formerly thought to be absent in the owls. Birds show variation in the melatonin concentration between day and night. A high melatonin level is associated with sleep and low levels are associated with high alertness and foraging activity. Spotted owlets, however, show only a slightly lower melatonin concentration at night with a slight increase in the early afternoon. Other owls such as the barn owl show little day-night variation. Seasonal changes in glandular activity have been associated with environmental factors such as temperature and humidity.