The lesser sooty owl is a nocturnal owl with a sooty face and silvery-white spots. It hides by day and catches small mammals and other prey at night.
The facial disc is pale near its outer edge and becomes sooty around the black eyes. The upperparts are sooty gray with dense silvery-white spots; the paler underparts have gray and dark markings.
It is nocturnal and hides by day in dense foliage, tangled aerial roots, or crevices. At night it hunts from low perches, taking mainly small mammals, as well as insects and some birds.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.