Spotted Owlet

Spotted Owlet

Athene brama

Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic

LCLeast ConcernNTVUENCR
Daily sighting probability ~30% · Possible
at Mudumalai National Park

In 3 days ~70% in a week ~90%

307 Verified sightings at Mudumalai National Park From 2019 to 2026
6,312 In all 18 parks
August Best month
🌅 Crepuscular When it's spotted

About the Spotted Owlet

The spotted owlet (Athene brama) 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.

The spotted owlet is a small and stocky bird, barely 21 cm (8.3 in) 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.

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... Wikipedia →

Sounds

Alarm call0:24

Thailand · 2023

© Peter Ericsson · XC836781 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Call0:09

Myanmar · 2023

© Thet Zaw Naing · XC778798 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Call0:04

India · 2020

© Sandip das · XC636715 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Keoladeo National Park 🇮🇳 India
~60%
2 Ranthambore National Park 🇮🇳 India
~40%
3 Kaziranga National Park 🇮🇳 India
~30%
4 Mudumalai National Park 🇮🇳 India
~30%
5 Gir National Park 🇮🇳 India
~30%
6 Sundarbans National Park 🇮🇳 India
~20%
7 Manas National Park 🇮🇳 India
~20%
8 Chitwan National Park 🇳🇵 Nepal
~20%
9 Bandhavgarh National Park 🇮🇳 India
~20%
10 Kanha National Park 🇮🇳 India
~20%
11 Satpura National Park 🇮🇳 India
~20%
12 Bandipur National Park 🇮🇳 India
~10%
13 Royal Bardia National Park 🇳🇵 Nepal
~10%
14 Nagarhole National Park 🇮🇳 India
~10%
15 Jim Corbett National Park 🇮🇳 India
<5%
16 Doi Inthanon National Park 🇹🇭 Thailand
<5%
17 Royal Manas National Park 🇧🇹 Bhutan
<5%
18 Khao Yai National Park 🇹🇭 Thailand
<5%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Aligarh 🇮🇳 India
~40%
2 Asansol 🇮🇳 India
~30%
3 Savar 🇧🇩 Bangladesh
~30%
4 Bareilly 🇮🇳 India
~30%
5 Indore 🇮🇳 India
~20%
6 Jammu 🇮🇳 India
~20%
7 Bengaluru 🇮🇳 India
~20%
8 Berhampore 🇮🇳 India
~20%
9 Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar 🇮🇳 India
~20%
10 Jaipur 🇮🇳 India
~20%

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Spotted Owlet in Mudumalai National Park?

Possible

About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Spotted Owlet sighting in Mudumalai National Park on a given day, based on 307 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 42nd most-seen of the 233 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 70%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Spotted Owlet in Mudumalai National Park?

January, July–August and November

In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Spotted Owlet in Mudumalai National Park on a given day, against about 20% in June, the lowest month.

What time of day is best to see a Spotted Owlet?

Between 3 and 6 am

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Spotted Owlet sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is most active around dawn and dusk.

Which relatives of the Spotted Owlet live in Mudumalai National Park?

Same family: Strigidae

The closest relatives of the Spotted Owlet that you can see in Mudumalai National Park (family Strigidae, Typical Owls) are Spot-bellied Eagle-Owl (about 20%), Oriental Scops Owl (about 10%) and Brown Fish-Owl (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.

Where does the Spotted Owlet sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Spotted Owlet is recorded against all the birds logged in Mudumalai National Park (307 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.

← Back to Mudumalai National Park