Spotted owlet

Spotted owlet in Patiala, India at noon in March 2023

This species is nocturnal but is often seen during the day. When disturbed from their daytime site, they bob their head and stare at intruders.[10] Their presence can often be located by the small birds that mob the owlets while they are perching in a tree during daytime.The call is a harsh and loud churring and chuckling chirurr-chirurr-chirurr ending with a chirwak-chirwak and they call mainly during early dawn or just after sunset.[3][11] The brain has a pineal gland, formerly thought to be absent in the owls.[12] Birds show variation in the melatonin concentration between day and night. A high melatonin level is associated with sleep and low levels are associated with high alertness and foraging activity. Spotted owlets, however, show only a slightly lower melatonin concentration at night with a slight increase in the early afternoon. Other owls such as the barn owl show little day-night variation.[13][14] Seasonal changes in glandular activity have been associated with environmental factors such as temperature and humidity.[15]

They hunt a variety of insects and small vertebrates. In Pakistan they have been found to take mostly insect prey.[16][17][18] In the arid region of Jodhpur, they have been found to take more rodents (especially in the genus Mus and tend to avoid other rodents such as Tatera) prior to the breeding season.[19] Bats, toads, small snakes such as Ramphotyphlops braminus have been noted.[20][21] They may also take scorpions and molluscs.[22] Nests near human habitations may show higher breeding success due to increased availability of rodents for feeding young.[23]

The breeding season is November to April.[3] Courtship behaviour includes bill grasping, allopreening and ritual feeding. The female may call with the male, bob head and deflect its tail in invitation.[24] The social organization of family groups is not clear and multiple males may copulate with a female and females may attempt pseudocopulation,[25] possibly a kind of displacement behaviour.[26][27] They nest in cavities often competing with other hole-nesters such as mynas, rollers and parakeets. They may also nest in holes in vertical embankments.[28] The nest may be lined with leaves and feathers or may use the existing lining from a prior occupant. The typical clutch is made up of three or four spherical white eggs (30.9mm long and 26.3 mm wide, 11.6g) and incubation begins with the first laid eggs leading to a wide variation in the size of the chicks. The young are fed initially on insects such as cockroaches and later fed small vertebrate prey such as mice (a toad Bufo stomaticus has been noted in Gujarat). The chicks gain weight during the early stages but lose weight before fledging.[29] Only one or two chicks may fledge and they leave the nest in about a month.[20]

A coccidian parasite, Eimeria atheni, has been described from this species.[30] An ectoparasitic mite, Neocheletiella athene, has been described from a specimen from the Antwerp zoo.[31] Bird lice of the species Colpocephalum pectinatum are known to be ectoparasites.[32] The Acanthocephalan parasite Apororhynchus chauhani was discovered in the intestine of the spotted owlet.[33]

Spotted owlet pair