Reddish Scops Owl (Otus rufescens)
About the Reddish Scops Owl
The reddish scops owl (Otus rufescens) is an owl found in southeast Asia, in the countries of Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei. The reddish scops owl measures 15-18 cm in length and has a body mass of 70-83 g. Body is generally a red-brown, with paler face and ear tufts. Displays black spotting across chest, and white spotting along back and wings; juveniles appear similar to adult individuals, but with less spotting. The call of the owl is a whistling “hooo," which is repeated in 7-11 second intervals. The calls of this species are able to be reliably sexed, with males having a higher pitched call than females. The reddish scops owl was first described by Thomas Horsfield in 1821 under the binomial Strix rufescens. The owl has two subspecies: O. r. malayensis O. r. rufescens.
No audio on this page yet
We only publish recordings we may use commercially, because this site is supported by ads. xeno-canto lists 46 recordings for this species: 3 CC BY-NC-SA · 3 CC BY-NC-ND. None of them permits commercial use, so there is no player here — the page is kept as a profile so the bird is not missing from the guide.
As soon as someone uploads a freely licensed recording, we mirror it and the player appears here.
Listed as recorded in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand in the xeno-canto catalogue.
Related species you can hear
- Collared Scops OwlOtus lettiarecording
- Eurasian Scops OwlOtus scopsrecording
- Flores Scops OwlOtus alfredirecording
- Indian Scops OwlOtus bakkamoenarecording
- Mindoro Scops OwlOtus mindorensisrecording
- Moluccan Scops OwlOtus magicusrecording
This species has no recording here yet — these relatives do, so you can hear what the family sounds like.