Northern White-faced Owl
Ptilopsis leucotis
- Family
- Owls (Strigidae)
- Order
- Strigiformes
Overview
The northern white-faced owl (Ptilopsis leucotis) is a species of owl in the family Strigidae. The southern white-faced owl (P. granti) was formerly included in this species and the two were known as the white-faced scops-owl.
It is found in a band across Africa between the Sahara and the Equator. It occurs in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Togo and Uganda.
Summary from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Range and habitat
Senegambia to Somalia, northern Democratic Republic of the Congo, northern Uganda, and central Kenya.
Range description: AviList Global Avian Checklist.
Sources and further reading
- Wikipedia: Northern white-faced owl
- eBird: sightings, maps and photos
- xeno-canto: sound recordings
- Birds of the World: full species account (subscription)
- BirdLife DataZone: status and threats
- IUCN Red List (threat status)
- AviList global checklist (taxonomy)
Last updated September 29, 2026.
