CreatureData

Lesser sooty owl

Tyto multipunctata Mathews, 1912

LCLeast Concernowls

The lesser sooty owl (Tyto multipunctata) is a species in the family Tytonidae, order Strigiformes. Recorded adults weigh 431 g to 722.5 g. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

Lesser sooty owl (Tyto multipunctata)
Photo: Dominic Sherony · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the lesser sooty owl

Weight
431 g – 722.5 gsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Diet
Carnivoresrc for Diet
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
forestsrc for Habitat
Egg incubation
42 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch
2src for Young per litter or clutch
Lifestyle
Generalistsrc for Lifestyle
Migration
Sedentarysrc for Migration
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
1 countrysrc for Countries on record

Where does the lesser sooty owl live?

Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.

The lesser sooty owl is listed for 1 country.

Australia
  • Listed
  • Not listed
small islands are not drawn at this scale

The same countries as a list

  1. Australia

Why a country list is not a range map

Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.

What is the lesser sooty owl?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The lesser sooty owl (Tyto multipunctata) is a medium-sized masked owl endemic to the wet tropics region of Australia. Once considered a subspecies of the greater sooty owl, it is distinguished by its dark plumage, heavier spotting, and higher-pitched call. The lesser sooty owl has a limited range within northeastern Australia and primarily lives in dark, sheltered areas of the rainforest.

From the Wikipedia article “Lesser sooty owl” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lesser_sooty_owl&oldid=1380009306), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the lesser sooty owl endangered?

The lesser sooty owl is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.

How is the lesser sooty owl classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderStrigiformes
  5. familyTytonidae
  6. genusTyto
  7. SpeciesTyto multipunctata Mathews, 1912

Synonyms Tyto multipunctata multipunctata, Tyto tenebricosa multipunctata

Other names and names in other languages (34)
  • Lesser sooty-owlEnglish
  • Kiçik qara alabayquşAzerbaijani
  • òliba cendrosaCatalan
  • sova tečkovanáCzech
  • Tylluan lwyd fachWelsh
  • Plettet SlørugleDanish
  • FleckenrußeuleGerman
  • Flecken-RußeuleGerman
  • PünktcheneuleGerman
  • cindra turstrigoEsperanto
  • Lechuza moteadaSpanish
  • helves-loorkakkEstonian
  • pikkunokipöllöFinnish
  • Effraie piquetéeFrench
  • srebrnasta kukuvijaCroatian
  • foltos gyöngybagolyHungarian
  • Barbagianni fuligginoso minoreItalian
  • ヒメススイロメンフクロウJapanese
  • pilkoji liepsnotoji pelėdaLithuanian
  • FantomsløugleNorwegian Bokmål
  • Kleine Zwarte KerkuilDutch
  • fantomslørugleNorwegian
  • płomykówka falistaPolish
  • coruja-mosqueadaPortuguese
  • coruja-fuliginosa-pequenaPortuguese
  • Пёстрая сипухаRussian
  • Малая пепельная сипухаRussian
  • plamienka bodkovanáSlovak
  • mindre sottornugglaSwedish
  • Küçük peçeli baykuşTurkish
  • сипуха сріблястаUkrainian
  • Cú lợn bồ hóng nhỏVietnamese
  • 小烏鴞Chinese
  • 小乌草鸮Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaWikidataIUCN Red List

Relatives of the lesser sooty owl

Other species in the same genus Tyto.

VU, Vulnerable
Red owl (Tyto soumagnei)

Red owl

Tyto soumagnei

Tytonidae

CompareLesser sooty owl vs Western barn owlLesser sooty owl vs African grass owlLesser sooty owl vs Australian masked owlLesser sooty owl vs Eastern grass owl

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the lesser sooty owl?

An adult lesser sooty owl weighs 431 g – 722.5 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Where does the lesser sooty owl live?

Catalogue of Life checklists list the lesser sooty owl for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.

Is the lesser sooty owl endangered?

The lesser sooty owl is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.

What kind of animal is the lesser sooty owl?

The lesser sooty owl (Tyto multipunctata) belongs to the family Tytonidae in the order Strigiformes.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Lesser sooty owl (Tyto multipunctata). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/lesser-sooty-owl

MLA

“Lesser sooty owl (Tyto multipunctata).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/lesser-sooty-owl.

BibTeX
@misc{lesser_sooty_owl_2026,
  title = {Lesser sooty owl (Tyto multipunctata)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/lesser-sooty-owl},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}