Collared Scops Owl

The collared scops owl is a small owl, 23–25 cm long, though the largest of the scops owls. Like other scops owls it has small ear tufts, and it has a buff neckband. The upperparts are grey or brown, depending on subspecies, with faint buff spotting, the facial disc is whitish or buff, and the eyes are orange or brown. It was formerly included in what is now the separate Indian scops owl (Wikipedia, general species account).

It is a common resident breeder in forests and other well-wooded areas, from northern Pakistan, northern India, Nepal and Bangladesh through the Himalaya to southern China and Taiwan, and is partially migratory, with some birds wintering in India, Sri Lanka and Malaysia. It is nocturnal but can often be located by the small birds that mob it as it roosts in a tree. It feeds mainly on insects and nests in tree hollows, laying three to five eggs. The call is a quiet goog gook, and calls are the easiest way to separate it from similar species. SoIB 2023 lists it as a resident and altitudinal migrant of forest and plantation that eats invertebrates, without a priority category (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).