Description:

A rather small, maily grey scops-owl with rufous accents, yellow eyes and dark bill. Browner or darker grey than Pallid Scops, with more pronounced darkening around eyes, more prominent white spots on scapulars, pale horizontal bars across streaked underparts, and more numerous pale barring on tail.

Distribution:

Common summer visitor western and central districts of Ghizer, Gilgit, Hunza and Nagar. Occurs in juniper scrub, rocky country up to 3000m; requires tree cover in orchards and plantations with adjacent open ground with plenty of large insect prey.

Behavior:

Nocturnal, occasionally diurnal. Hunts from perch, flying down to grab prey with feet, seizing small prey with bill; pulls earthworms from ground with bill; moths caught in feet after fast aerial pursuit. Mostly feeds on insects and other invertebrates; also earthworms, spiders, and some small birds, reptiles, amphibians and mammals. Insects mostly crickets and grasshoppers, beetles and moths.

Photo Gallery:

Range & Occurrence:

Resident Species

Summer Breeder

Winter Visitor

Passage Migrant

Distribution Map of Eurasian Scops-Owl in Gilgit-Baltistan (Status: )

Seasonal Occurrence of Eurasian Scops-Owl

Resources:

Birds of Pakistan: Helm Field Guides (R. Grimmett & T. Inskipp)
The Birds of Pakistan (T. J. Roberts)
Birds of the Indian Subcontinent (C. Inskipp, R. Grimmett & T. Inskipp)
Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide (P. Rasmussen & J. Anderton)
Birds of India: Collins Field Guide (N. Arlott)
Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan (S. Ali & S. D. Ripley)
Handbook of the Birds of the World (https://www.hbw.com)
The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World, 6th Edition
iNaturalist BoGB (inaturalist.org/projects/birds-of-gilgit-baltistan)
Birds of Gilgit-Baltistan (http://fb.me/birdsgb)

*Gallery images on this page are shared from flickr.com, and are copyrighted to their respective creators or owners.