Mountain Scops Owl (Otus) [XC454990]
by Gareth K. from Dahua Road, Zhuqi Township, Chiayi County, Taiwan Province, Taiwan (song)
Mountain Scops Owl (Otus) [XC396920]
by Todd A. Watkins from Thor Tip Waterfall Trail, Kaeng Krachan NP, Thailand (song)
Subspecies
Otus stresemanni was formerly considered a distinct species following Marshall (1978), and it was treated as such in Collar and Andrew (1988). It has subsequently been treated as a subspecies of Mountain Scops-Owl (Otus spilocephalus) following Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993), but this treatment is under review by the BTWG.
Probably forms superspecies with Andaman Scops-Owl (Otus balli) and Flores Scops-Owl (Otus alfredi). Previously considered by some to include Javan Scops-Owl (Otus angelinae) and Luzon Highland Scops-Owl (Otus longicornis) as subspecies, but differences in vocalizations indicate that all are separate species. Subspecies vandewateri sometimes treated as full species, and sometimes as a subspecies of Javan Scops-Owl (Otus angelinae), but morphology and voice suggest better regarded as subspecies of present species. Mt Kerinci (Sumatra) foothills form "stresemanni" variously regarded as subspecies of present species, of Sandy Scops-Owl (Otus icterorhynchus) or of Andaman Scops-Owl (Otus balli), or even as full species forming superspecies with either of Sandy Scops-Owl (Otus icterorhynchus) or Andaman Scops-Owl (Otus balli). Known only from single specimen collected in 1914, but has not been relocated and its status is uncertain. Although has been suggested as pale form of vandewateri, this not borne out by comparison of the few available museum specimens. Current racial divisions and geographical limits obscure. Populations in Bangladesh, Nagaland and Manipur sometimes separated as subspecies rupchandi.
The following 8 subspecies are recognised:
huttoni (Hume, 1870) - Northern Pakistan east to central Nepal.
spilocephalus (Blyth, 1846) - Central Nepal east to Arunachal Pradesh and Myanmar.
latouchi (Rickett, 1900) - Northern Thailand and Laos to south-eastern China and Hainan.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet