Spotted Owlet (Athene brama) [XC893951]
by Sam Hambly from Potasali, India (call)
Spotted Owlet (Athene brama) [XC636715]
by Peter Ericsson from Bishnupur, Bankura, West Bengal, India (call)
Subspecies
Probably forms superspecies with Little Owl (Athene noctua). Birds from north-eastern Assam sometimes separated subspecifically as ultra. Putative Tibetan form "poikila" apparently referable to Boreal Owl (Aegolius funereus).
The following 6 subspecies are recognised:
albida (Temminck, 1821) - Southern Iran and southern Pakistan; possibly also southern Afghanistan.
indica (Franklin, 1831) - Northern and central Indian Subcontinent.
brama (Temminck, 1821) - Southern India.
pulchra Hume, 1873 - Myanmar, Thailand (except southern half of peninsula), southern Laos, Cambodia and southern Vietnam.