Oriental Scops Owl

The Oriental scops owl is a very small owl with visible ear tufts, 17–21 centimetres long and 75–95 grams, the female on average six grams heavier than the male. The eyes are yellow and the bill black. The shoulder feathers carry whitish-brown spots with black edges, and the wings and tail are barred light and dark. The legs are feathered down to the base of the grey-brown toes and have blackish-brown claws. (German Wikipedia, general species account)

Three colour morphs occur; the red morph is reddish-brown above and pale below, shading to dull yellowish to white towards the belly. It is distributed across South and East Asia. It lives mainly on insects and spiders but occasionally takes small vertebrates. Its rough three-syllable call, kroik ku kjuuh, carries for several hundred metres. (German Wikipedia, general species account)