Official common name: Pearl-spotted owlet
Common names: Pearl-spotted Owlet (Eng.); witkoluil (Afr.), xinkhovha (Tsonga)
Derivation of scientific name: perlatum (Latin) = wearing pearls.
The Pearl-spotted Owlet is a diminutive African raptor that is often active during the day but hunts mostly during the night. It has piercing yellow eyes and distinctive, white-spotted plumage making it one of the continent’s most charismatic small birds of prey.
Description/How to recognise a
The Pearl-Spotted Owlet is one of the smallest owls in Africa, measuring just 17–21 cm in length and weighing about 75 g. They are brownish in colour with heavy white spotting. They have two distinctive dark marks (‘false eyes’) on the back of their head.
Getting around
The Pearl-spotted Owlet flies with quick, whirring wingbeats that go up and down in a wavy pattern. They beat their wings rapidly, then glide for short periods, repeating this pattern as they fly. When landing, they swoop upward to reach their perch.
Communication
They call both day and night, especially before breeding, but are quiet when nesting. Pearl-spotted Owlets have a distinct call – a loud series of shrill, short whistles that accelerate in tempo and rise in volume to a crescendo of long, loud, drawn-out whistles that descend in pitch and volume: peu peu peu-peu-peu peeuu peeeuu peeeuu.
Distribution
The species is distributed widely in Africa in the following countries: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Eswatini, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Habitat
They occur in a wide range of woodland and bushveld habitats, especially mopane and open thorn savanna with areas of sparse ground cover. They avoid dense woodland and forest, miombo and open grassland and shrubland.
Food
Pearl-spotted Owlets feed predominantly on arthropods, especially grasshoppers, crickets, and solifuges (sun spiders) but can hunt small vertebrates such as rodents, bats, lizards, snakes and small birds.
Sex and life cycle
Sex
Pearl-spotted Owlets are monogamous and highly territorial birds that nest alone rather than in groups. In lightly wooded areas, the number of nesting pairs is limited by how many suitable nest holes are available.
During courtship, the male brings food to the female as part of his mating display. The female then spends long periods making soft calls from inside the nest cavity before she lays her eggs. These owlets typically use old nest holes that were originally made by large barbets or woodpeckers. Females usually lay 2 to 4 eggs, which take around 29 days to hatch.
Family life
Pearl-spotted Owlets are commonly found alone or in pairs in both moist and dry wooded savanna, including areas near villages. During the breeding season, they form pairs and defend territories in suitable woodland habitats.
THE BIG PICTURE
The Pearl-spotted Owlet serves as both predator and prey in the ecosystem. As a predator, it hunts insects, small mammals, birds and reptiles. As prey, it is hunted by larger birds of prey, snakes, and other predators that can overpower them.
Friends and foes
Pearl-spotted Owlets occupy a middle position in the food web, facing competition from other small raptors and insectivorous birds for hunting territories and prey. They compete with shrikes, bee-eaters, rollers and other small owls for insects and small vertebrates.
Smart strategies
Pearl-spotted Owlets have two distinctive black spots with white rings on the back of their head that look like ‘false eyes’. This clever adaptation helps protect them from predators in several ways: it confuses potential predators about which direction the owl is facing, creates the illusion that the owl is always watching even when it has its head turned away, and provides extra protection while the owl is busy hunting or feeding and cannot keep watch for danger.
Poorer world without me
Without Pearl-spotted Owlets, ecosystems would lose an important natural pest controller. These small owls eat large quantities of grasshoppers, crickets and other arthropods that can damage crops and vegetation. Without them, insect populations would grow unchecked, leading to increased crop damage, higher pesticide use by farmers, and greater costs for food production.
People and I
In African culture, owls are often associated with various myths and beliefs. Owls are sometimes associated with witchcraft, death and evil. There are many superstitions that revolve around them. In some other cultures, they are seen as the ‘wise old bird’ that know everything.
Conservation status and what the future holds
According to the IUCN Red List of Species, the Pearl-spotted Owlet is of Least Concern, however the population is decreasing.
Relatives
The Pearl-spotted Owlet belongs to the genus Glaucidium, which consists of 29 species distributed worldwide, making them part of a large family of small owls. Their closest African relative is the African Barred Owlet (Glaucidium capense), which falls under the same genus and share a similar habitat but can be distinguished by their slightly larger size and barred (rather than spotted) plumage pattern and no ‘false eyes’ behind the head. Both species are part of the larger pygmy owl group, characterised by their small size and often diurnal (daytime) activity.
Scientific name and classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Strigiformes
Family: Strigidae
Genus: Glaucidium
Species: G. perlatum (Vieillot, 1817)
References and further reading
- eBird, accessed September 2025. Pearl-spotted Owlet. https://ebird.org/species/pesowl1
- Gibbon, G. 2025. Pearl-spotted Owlet. Roberts Bird Guide 2, iOS Edition 1.3.9. South African Birding CC 2025.
- IUCN Red List, accessed September 2025. Pearl-spotted Owlet. https://www.iucnredlist.org/search?query=Pearl%20spotted%20owlet&searchType=species
- Lewis, D. 2020. Pearl-spotted Owlet ~ Glaucidium perlatum. https://www.owlpages.com/owls/species.php?s=1860
- Ramel, G. 2023. Pearl-spotted Owlet. https://earthlife.net/pearl-spotted-owlets/
- Wikipedia, accessed September 2025. Pearl-spotted owlet. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl-spotted_owlet
Author: Nozipho Khumalo
SANBI – Zoological Research
E-mail: N.Khumalo@sanbi.org.za