A small owl with relatively short ear hair. Females weigh more than 15 grams more than males. There are three forms. The most common is the grey variant, with a pale brown-grey upper body with fairly prominent, dark stripes on it, and large white areas on the shoulder blades that form a clear stripe on the closed wings. The brownish-grey flight feathers have fine dark-edged white stripes, and the relatively long tail has similar stripes. The lower part is light grey with long, thin, and dark axial stripes, horizontal worm markings, and white fences. The dough plate is uniform gray, and the dark folds that protrude outward become more pale. Yellow eyes, white eyebrows, not so prominent; there are pink eyelid edges. This bill is rather vague. Tarsi has thick feathers, light gray toes, and dark gray-brown claws. Brown distortion is similar to gray deformation, but is generally more brownish. Very rare reddish-brown morphology, with a general pale orange reddish-brown color with dark stripes on top and white bands and blurred stripes and vermiculite below. Juvenile fluffy chicks not described. Immaturity forbade upper-tail concealment more strongly; the tip of the rectangle is narrower and more pointed than that of adults. In flight, the tail is noticeably longer than the Malagasy head-tailed owl, but it has the same rounded wings.
Two-syllable or three-syllable purrs are emitted in phrases with three to five notes, and the series is repeated multiple times at different intervals. Food and hunting are not recorded. Habitats are central highlands and drier lowland forests, but also occur in degraded areas, sometimes in villages near human habitation.
West and west are unique to the status and distribution of southwest Madagascar. Status unknown. Geographic variation requires in-depth study and DNA to confirm its taxonomic status; it was previously considered a subspecies of Madagascar, but was separated due to differences in sound. Monotype.
A similar species, the Madagascar head-tailed owl, an ecological counterpart at higher elevations in the more humid eastern Part of Madagascar, is very similar, but has a shorter tail and an almost bare outer posterior part; its dark brown and saturated reddish-brown morphology is more common, and its dark markings in the upper part are more blurred. It also has a noticeable difference in sound.