Chestnut-backed Owlet - Glaucidium castanonotum

Chestnut-backed Owlet - Glaucidium castanonotum

(Sri Lanka Chestnut-backed Owlet)
(Endemic bird in Sri Lanka)  

Sinhalese - Bassa
Tamil       - Sinna Andai

This is a very attractive owl, with its dark barred chestnut mantle and wings, black and white radially  barred head, horizontally barred breast which changes to vertical streaking on the abdomen.. The tail is black with seven fine horizontal bands of white. It is the size of the more familiar Scops Owl but has yellow eyes and no ear tufts. It is a rather scarce bird, being confined to the remaining tracts of wet zone forest and their outskirts ascending the wet hills to about 1800 metres. In common with its dry zone counterpart, the Jungle Owlet, it is quite diurnal in its habits, feeding well into the mornings. Due to this reason, though scarce, it can often be

 observed in suitable habitat. Kitulgala is a particularly good place to observe the species. The bird lives in pairs feeding on insects such as beetles. However when young have to be fed, it catches much larger fare. The call is a far carrying ,kaow,kaow kaow. The threateningsong is a krook krook ascending to a kaow, kaow  and ending in a kao whap, kao whap.