This small owl is endemic to São Tomé. Its rufous-brown plumage, white brows and chin, and dark belly streaks are distinctive.
It has a pale rufous-brown face, white chin and brows, patterned rufous-brown upperparts, and bold dark streaks on the chest and belly.
It feeds mainly on insects and also takes small lizards, hunting from low perches in the forest. It appears to be partly diurnal.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.