Spot-bellied Eagle-owl

The spot-bellied eagle-owl, or forest eagle-owl, is a large forest owl, 50 to 65cm long, greyish-brown with pale underparts, horizontal stripes that become broad spots on the belly, and long slanting ear tufts. It is closely related to the barred eagle-owl, and genetic studies support placing the Ketupa owls in their own genus (Wikipedia, general species account).

It lives in dense mature forest, mainly in the foothills, across the lower Himalaya from Kumaon east through Nepal and across the Indian subcontinent, Burma, Laos, Vietnam and southern Thailand to Sri Lanka. It is a powerful predator of pheasants, junglefowl, peafowl, hares, jackals and young muntjac, and also takes reptiles, fish and carrion. It is mostly nocturnal, roosts in dense foliage by day, and calls with a series of low hoots. It nests from December to March, usually laying a single egg in a tree hollow, an old stick nest or a rock crevice, and defends the nest fiercely (Wikipedia, general species account).