It occurs in subtropical evergreen forest, and locally in or near to villages, from sea-level to 550 m or higher. It feeds on a range of arthropods and will take small mammals and small birds. Eggs are laid in March-July.

Otus elegans is found on the Nansei Shoto islands, Minami-daito-jima island, Okino island (Takagi et al. 2015), southern Japan, on Lanyu Island, off south-east Taiwan (China), and on the Batanes and Babuyan islands off northern Luzon in the Philippines (BirdLife International 2001). It is common wherever suitable habitat remains on the Nansei Shoto, and is presumed to have quite a large population there. The population that persisted on Kita-daito is apparently extinct but 245 territorial males were estimated on adjacent Minami-daito during the 2005 breeding season (Takagi et al. 2007). It has a population estimated at c.1,000 birds on Lanyu Island, and it has been described as fairly common on the Batanes and Babuyan islands. However, its range must have been much reduced and fragmented in the Philippines by deforestation, although its population it thought to be stable on Lanyu Island and its prospects for survival there are good so long as suitable habitat is protected. It is presumably also relatively secure on the Nansei Shoto, but its extirpation from Kita-daito highlights it vulnerability to extensive forest clearance (the island is almost entirely under cultivation now). Recent records of the species nesting on Okino island expand its known range northwards, with an estimated 23 territorial males inhabiting the island (Takagi et al. 2015).

Conservation Actions Underway
CITES Appendix II. The species has also been the focus of specific study, improving knowledge of its life history and potential threats.

Conservation Actions Proposed
Protect areas of remaining forest in different parts of its range to ensure that all subspecies are represented. Monitor threats to the species.