Oriental Bay Owl

The Oriental bay owl is a small, completely nocturnal owl, 22.5–29 cm long and 255–308 g, with a heart-shaped face with earlike extensions, a highly angular head and large, striking black eyes. The top and back half of the body are deep chestnut and the underparts and stomach cream and tan. It can be found in tropical wet evergreen forest, at heights up to about 1,050 m. It has several subspecies, and the Sri Lanka bay owl was also considered one (Wikipedia, general species account).

It is found throughout Southeast Asia and parts of India, in Nepal, Sikkim, Assam, Nagaland and Manipur, east to south China and south through the Malay Peninsula to the Greater Sundas; a few rare sightings were made at Sengaltheri in Tamil Nadu in 1998. It hoots, screams and gives high-pitched whistle songs of four to seven melancholic whistles, and it tends to stay to itself. Eggs are laid between March and July. SoIB 2023 lists it as a resident forest bird that eats vertebrates and carrion, without a priority category (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).