The species inhabits lowland evergreen forest and semi-evergreen forest, and forest edge and clearings; also secondary growth, mature oil palm plantations and well-wooded gardens (Holt et al. 2020). Data suggest it is also capable of persisting in relatively small, isolated urban park fragments (eBird 2021). This species appears to be commoner in primary habitats: of 14 records from Malaysian Borneo, 10 were in primary forest, 1 was in secondary forest and 3 in fallow agricultural land (Puan et al. 2015), however this study did not account for survey effort in each of these habitats [although other species did not show such differences between habitat types]. Across 90 sampling points in three oil palm small holdings (53 km²) in Peninsular Malaysia, B. sumatranus was detected only once, vs 435 times for Strix seloputo (Yahya et al. 2020), while in primary forest in Peninsular Thailand, B. sumatranus was detected at densities of 0.47-1.85/km² (Kemp et al. 2009). It occurs mostly in the lowlands to 600 m, locally to 1,000 m; in the Malay Peninsula, recorded exceptionally to 1,400 m (Wells 1999) and in West Java to 1,600 m (König et al. 2008), up to 1,862 m in Malaysian Borneo (Puan et al. 2015) and rarely to 2,000 m elsewhere in Indonesia (Eaton et al. 2021). The species forages on a wide variety of prey including insects and small mammals, especially rodents, and snakes and small birds (König et al. 2008, Foley et al. 2013); takes larger prey too, including an observation of feeding on a young macaque (Li 2010).

This species comprises two subspecies. The nominate occurs from Tenasserim, southernmost Myanmar, through Peninsular Malaysia to Sumatra, Indonesia, including Bangka Island. Subspecies strepitans occurs on Borneo, Java and Bali (König et al. 2008, Eaton et al. 2021).

Conservation Actions Underway
CITES Appendix II. No targeted conservation actions are known for this species although it occurs in a number of protected areas.

Conservation Actions Proposed
Conduct repeated surveys in areas within and surrounding its range to determine the full extent of distribution and measure rates of population decline or range contraction. Conduct ecological studies to improve understanding of its precise habitat requirements and densities in respective tolerance of secondary habitats. Campaign for the protection of remaining tracts of lowland broadleaved forest throughout the Sundaic region. Continue to monitor rates of forest loss using remote sensing data. Enforce legislation that protects this species from hunting and trade.