Serendib Scops Owl (Otus thilohoffmanni)
About the Serendib Scops Owl
The Serendib scops owl (Otus thilohoffmanni) is the most recently discovered bird of Sri Lanka. It was originally located by its unfamiliar poo-ooo call in the Kitulgala rainforest by prominent Sri Lankan ornithologist Deepal Warakagoda. Six years later, it was finally seen by him on 23 January 2001 in Sinharaja, and formally described as a species new to science in 2004. Apart from Sinharaja and Kitulgala, it has also been found at Runakanda Reserve in Morapitiya and Eratna Gilimale. It is known as පඬුවන් බස්සා in Sinhala. It is the first new bird to be discovered in Sri Lanka since 1868, when the Sri Lanka whistling thrush—then Ceylon whistling thrush—(Myophonus blighi) was discovered. It is also the 24th (according to some authorities the 27th) endemic bird species for Sri Lanka.
No audio on this page yet
We only publish recordings we may use commercially, because this site is supported by ads. xeno-canto lists 5 recordings for this species: 5 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 Sri Lanka 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.