Typical Owls (Strigidae)

Northern White-faced Owl (Ptilopsis leucotis) - HBW 5, p. 182

French: Petit-duc à face blanche de Temminck German: Nordbüscheleule Spanish: Autillo Cariblanco Norteño
Other common names: White-faced Scops-owl/Owl (with P. granti)

Taxonomy: Strix leucotis Temminck, 1820, Senegal.
Genus until recently merged with Otus, but shown by molecular-biological studies to be very different, and eyes also much bigger. Often treated as conspecific with P. granti; significant differences in DNA and vocal patterns, however, indicate that N and S populations specifically distinct. Pale birds in Sudan and dark ones elsewhere have been treated as racially distinct (as margarethae and nigrovertex, respectively), but both considered merely colour morphs. Monotypic.

Distribution: Senegambia E to Somalia, S to N Zaire, N Uganda and C Kenya.