Collared scops owl
species of bird
The collared scops owl (Otus lettia) is an owl which is a resident breeder in south Asia from northern Pakistan, northern India, Nepal, Bangladesh, the Himalayas east to southern China, and Taiwan. It is partially migratory, with some birds wintering in India, Sri Lanka and Malaysia. This species was formerly considered to be included within what is now separated as the Indian scops owl (O. bakkamoena).
This species is a part of the larger grouping of owls known as typical owls, Strigidae, which contains most species of owl. The other grouping is the barn owls, Tytonidae.
The collared scops owl is a common breeding bird in forests and other well-wooded areas. It nests in tree hollows, laying 3-5 eggs.
The collared scops owl is a small (23–25 cm) owl, although it is the largest of the scops owls. Like other scops owls, it has small head tufts, or ears. The upperparts are grey or brown, depending on the subspecies, with faint buff spotting.
“Collared scops owl” enters the record as species of bird. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Collared, scops and species can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1269116. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Collared scops owl” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.