Phodilus assimilis
Silhouette: John Gould & Henry C. Richter · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
The Sri Lanka bay owl (Phodilus assimilis) is a species of bay owl in the family Tytonidae. It is endemic to the island of Sri Lanka and the Western Ghats in Kerala, South Western India. It was considered a subspecies of the Oriental bay owl (Phodilus badius) but is now treated as a full species due to its distinctive call, plumage and disjunct distribution.
Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist montane forests and subtropical or tropical high-altitude grassland. It is threatened by habitat loss. The Sri Lanka bay owl was described by the English politician and naturalist Allan Octavian Hume in 1873 but it was only in 1877 that he introduced the binomial name Phodilus assimilis. The genus name Phodilus is from the Ancient Greek phōs for "light" or "daylight" and deilos for "timid" or "cowardly". The specific epithet assimilis is the Latin for "similar" or "like".
It was earlier considered a subspecies of the Oriental bay owl Phodilus badius, but now treated as a separate species based on differences in call and plumage. Two subspecies are recognised: Phodilus assimilis ripleyi Hussain & Reza Khan, 1978 - Western Ghats
Phodilus assimilis assimilis A... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sinharaja Forest Reserve | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka |
More parks will be added in future updates.
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Sri Lanka Bay-Owl sighting in Sinharaja Forest Reserve on a given day, based on 149 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 83rd most-seen of the 156 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
October
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Sri Lanka Bay-Owl in Sinharaja Forest Reserve on a given day, against under 5% in March–July and September, the lowest months. That is one of Sinharaja Forest Reserve's wettest months, with about 470 mm of rain against 150 mm in March.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Sri Lanka Bay-Owl sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Sinharaja Forest Reserve, in our data
Sinharaja Forest Reserve is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Sri Lanka Bay-Owl sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same order: Strigiformes
The closest relatives of the Sri Lanka Bay-Owl that you can see in Sinharaja Forest Reserve (order Strigiformes, Owls) are Chestnut-backed Owlet (about 30%) and Serendib Scops Owl (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Sri Lanka Bay-Owl is recorded against all the birds logged in Sinharaja Forest Reserve (149 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.
