Asian Barred Owlet Glaucidium cuculoides rufescens, Xishuangbanna Botanical Gardens (21.932577, 101.248460), Yunnan, China, elev. 540 m (1,780 ft.), January. Asian Barred Owlet ranges from the Himalayas to southern China and Southeast Asia. Inhabits open forest, often near human habitation, in lowlands and hills, to 1800 m (5,910 ft.); in Himalayas to 2700 m (8,860 ft.). Mostly (Holt et al.) or partly (MacKinnon) diurnal. Seizes birds such as quail in the air, like a hawk. (Craig Brelsford)Asian Barred Owlet ssp. rufescens, Xishuangbanna Botanical Gardens (21.932577, 101.248460), Yunnan. Note roundness of head (no ear tufts) and white throat patch. The pygmy owls, genus Glaucidium, occur on all the inhabited continents except Australia. (Craig Brelsford)Asian Barred Owlet G. c. rufescens, hills (21.511389, 100.512222) near Mengsong, Xishuangbanna Prefecture, Yunnan, elev. 1800 m (5,900 ft.), January. Note extensive buff and fulvous barring on upperparts. (Craig Brelsford)Asian Barred Owlet G. c. whiteleyi, Hangzhou Botanical Gardens, Zhejiang, China, July. In China, whiteleyi is the most widespread ssp., occurring over much of the central, southern, and southeastern portions of the country. (Komatsu Yasuhiko)
REFERENCES
Holt, D.W., et al. (1999). Family Strigidae (True Owls). P. 221 in del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. & Christie, D.A. eds. (1999). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol. 5. Barn-owls to Hummingbirds. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain.
MacKinnon, John (2022). Guide to the Birds of China. Oxford University Press.
