This owl occurs in forest and wooded areas on Mindoro. One source describes the island population under its former subspecies treatment.
The Mindoro population, treated as subspecies mindorensis in a 2012 paper, has pale barring on the head and nape and brown transverse bars across tawny-buff underparts.
The species account describes it as nocturnal and associated with forest and wooded habitats.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.