Athene brama
Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~70% in a week >90%
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 →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Keoladeo National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Ranthambore National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Kaziranga National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 4 | Mudumalai National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Gir National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 6 | Sundarbans National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Manas National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 8 | Chitwan National Park | 🇳🇵 Nepal | |
| 9 | Bandhavgarh National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 10 | Kanha National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 11 | Satpura National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 12 | Bandipur National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 13 | Royal Bardia National Park | 🇳🇵 Nepal | |
| 14 | Nagarhole National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 15 | Jim Corbett National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 16 | Doi Inthanon National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 17 | Royal Manas National Park | 🇧🇹 Bhutan | |
| 18 | Khao Yai National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aligarh | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Asansol | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Savar | 🇧🇩 Bangladesh | |
| 4 | Bareilly | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Indore | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 6 | Jammu | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Bengaluru | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 8 | Berhampore | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 9 | Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 10 | Jaipur | 🇮🇳 India |
Likely
About 40% of wildlife watchers report a Spotted Owlet sighting in Ranthambore National Park on a given day, based on 536 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 38th most-seen of the 251 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 70%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February
In that month about 50% of wildlife watchers report a Spotted Owlet in Ranthambore National Park on a given day, against about 20% in July to September, the lowest months. That is one of Ranthambore National Park's driest months, with about 5 mm of rain against 270 mm in August.
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.
2nd of 18
Of the 18 parks where we can rate Spotted Owlet sightings, Ranthambore National Park ranks 2nd at about 40%. The best odds are in Keoladeo National Park (India, about 60%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Strigidae
The closest relatives of the Spotted Owlet that you can see in Ranthambore National Park (family Strigidae, Typical Owls) are Indian Scops-Owl (about 20%), Brown Fish-Owl (about 20%) and Dusky Eagle-Owl (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Spotted Owlet is recorded against all the birds logged in Ranthambore National Park (536 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.
