Strix ocellata
Silhouette: Sharon Wegner-Larsen · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The mottled wood owl (Strix ocellata) is a species of large owl found in India and Nepal. They are found in gardens and thin deciduous forests adjacent to dry thorn forests or farmland. They are easily detected by their distinctive tremulous, eerie calls at dawn and dusk. The characteristic call is a duet of the male and female, while other notes include a low hoot and a screech. Their large size, lack of "ear" tufts and the concentric barring on the face make them easy to identify.
This large owl lacks ear tufts and is mottled and vermiculated in reddish brown and white. The face disc is marked with fine concentric black and white barring. The sexes are alike. The chin is white. The eyelid is orange, and the iris is dark brown. The tail is barred narrowly in brown and black. The concentric barring on the face and mottled crown separate it from the brown wood owl in southern India.
There are three subspecies recognized and there are no sharp demarcations in their distributions. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gir National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Bandhavgarh National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Royal Bardia National Park | 🇳🇵 Nepal | |
| 4 | Satpura National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Kanha National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 6 | Nagarhole National Park | 🇮🇳 India |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nehru Zoological Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Mysore Zoo | 🇮🇳 India |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Mottled Wood Owl sighting in Satpura National Park on a given day, based on 44 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 162nd most-seen of the 259 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March–April and June–August
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Mottled Wood Owl in Satpura National Park on a given day, against under 5% in May and September–February, the lowest months. Those are among Satpura National Park's wettest months, with about 310 mm of rain a month against 5 mm in May.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Mottled Wood Owl 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.
4th of 6
Of the 6 parks where we can rate Mottled Wood Owl sightings, Satpura National Park ranks 4th at under 5%. The best odds are in Gir National Park (India, about 10%), Bandhavgarh National Park (India, about 10%) and Royal Bardia National Park (Nepal, under 5%).
Same family: Strigidae
The closest relatives of the Mottled Wood Owl that you can see in Satpura National Park (family Strigidae, Typical Owls) are Jungle Owlet (about 20%), Spotted Owlet (about 20%) and Indian Scops-Owl (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Mottled Wood Owl is recorded against all the birds logged in Satpura National Park (44 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.
