African Scops Owl (Otus senegalensis)
About the African Scops Owl
The African scops owl (Otus senegalensis) is a small owl which is widespread in sub-Saharan Africa. The African scops owl was formally described in 1837 by the English zoologist William Swainson as Otus senegalensis based on a specimen collected in Senegal. The species is now one of 58 scops owls placed in the genus Otus. Three subspecies are recognised: O. s. senegalensis (Swainson, WJ, 1837) – widespread sub-Saharan Africa O. s. nivosus Keith, GS & Twomey, AC, 1968 – southeastern Kenya (lower Tana River to Lali Hills) O. s. feae (Salvadori, AT, 1903) – island of Annobón (Pagulu) (Gulf of Guinea)
No audio on this page yet
We only publish recordings we may use commercially, because this site is supported by ads. xeno-canto lists 113 recordings for this species: 4 CC BY-NC-ND · 2 CC BY-NC-SA. 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 Botswana, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana 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.