Collared Owlet

The collared owlet, or collared pygmy owl, is Asia's smallest owl at about 15 to 17cm, with females slightly heavier than males. It is grey-brown with a barred back and flanks, a spotted head, white eyebrows, yellow eyes and a white throat, and has two black nape spots forming a false face on the back of the head. It has no ear tufts (Wikipedia, general species account).

It lives in submontane and montane forest, forest edge and open woodland, usually between 1,350 and 2,750m, from the Himalaya including Nepal east to China and Taiwan. It is mainly active by day, catching small mammals, birds, lizards and insects, sometimes as large as itself, and smaller birds often mob it at its roost. Pairs bond in March and April and nest in tree hollows, laying three to five white eggs (Wikipedia, general species account).