Scientific name: Glaucidium perlatum
Occurs south of the Sahara in Africa from southern Mauritania across to Ethiopia and south to northern Cape Province in South Africa Absent only from deserts and rainforests.
Open savanna with short grass or a small amount of ground cover, scattered trees and thorny shrubs. Also dry semi-open woodland and semi-open riverine forest with adjacent savanna.
At only 18-19 cm this is one of the smallest owls of southern Africa. The facial disc is pale greyish-brown with some diffuse concentric lines. Eyebrows are whitish and prominent. Eyes are pale yellow. The cere is brown and the bill yellowish-horn. Upperparts are chestnut-brown, somewhat paler on the mantle and back, finely spotted whitish on the forehead and crown. The nape has two large sooty-brown spots that are diffusely bordered whitish (false eyes). The throat is whitish, and the rest of the underparts are off-white, with the upper breast and flanks having a brownish or rufous wash.
