This owl is endemic to the Sulu Archipelago. A 2025 study describes barred crown and breast, white X-shaped markings around the bill, and mustard-yellow eyes.
The 2025 observed bird had prominent bars on the crown and breast, a white X around the bill, a white throat patch, and mustard-yellow eyes.
One bird was observed at noon in July 2023, perched on a slender vine at the entrance to a limestone rock shelter on Tawi-Tawi. The paper cautions that this single record does not establish a resident population there.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.