Once considered a subspecies of the greater sooty owl, it is distinguished by its dark plumage, heavier spotting, and higher-pitched call.

The lesser sooty owl has a limited range within northeastern Australia and primarily lives in dark, sheltered areas of the rainforest.

[6] In general, Sooty owls are uncommon because they are difficult to observe in the dark, dense forests they live in.

[8] These owls are particularly vulnerable to changes to their habitat and resources because they are generally found in low numbers and have small clutches.

The lesser sooty owl is endemic to the wet tropics of the Australasian region and has a small range and a scattered distribution.

[7] The lesser sooty owl inhabits primarily old-growth forests with tree hollows near 1m deep.

[14] They mostly nest, forage and roost in less disturbed areas of the forest near the riparian zones and rainforest gullies.

[14] They tend to avoid open or exposed areas of the forest and prefer dark, cool and sheltered locations.

[3] The bird commonly roosts in foliage, vines, inside hollows of large mature trees, in caves and rocky cliff edges.

[14] In fact, they are the only member of the Tytonidae family to live deep within the forests of the Wet Tropics of Queensland.

[17] Sooty owls spontaneously vocalize throughout the night but mostly at dusk and dawn,[17] especially during the first few hours after sunset when they leave their roosts.

[18] The lesser sooty owl is a generalist predator because it hunts a variety of prey within its limited distributional range.

Sooty owls eat birds such as the king parrot (Alisterus scapularis) and crimson rosella (Platycercus elegans).

[19] The lesser sooty owl consumes species near threatened or endangered under the Queensland Government legislation (Nature Conservation Act of 1992 and the Nature Conservation Wildlife Regulation of 2006) like the lemuroid ringtail possum (Hemibelideus lemuroids), Atherton antechinus (Antechinus godmani), the Herbert River ringtail possum (Pseudochirulus herbentensis) the Eastern pygmy possum (Cercartetus nanus), smoky mouse ( Pseudomys fumeus), broad-toothed rat (Mastacomys fuscus.

[4] Historically, sooty owls feasted mainly on terrestrial mammals, but many species are now locally extinct.

[25] Lesser sooty owls have been reported using flooded gum (Eucalyptus grandis), brush cherry (Syzygium paniculatum), black bean (Castanospermum australe), ferntop ash (Ailanthus triphysa), and Ficus sp.

[4] The lesser sooty owl faces many threats such as habitat loss and fragmentation from logging, agriculture, urban developments, tourism, mining, pine plantations, climate change and predation by domestic and feral animals.

[30] These birds are particularly sensitive to disturbance since they require specific habitats and heavily depend on old-growth forests.

[23] Logging practices and clear-cutting often remove mature, hollow trees and other elements of the forest that the owl needs for hunting and nesting activities.

Even when small forest patches were preserved within agricultural land, the sooty owls steered clear of these areas.

[23] In fact, sooty owls are considered to be the most sensitive to poor forest management in southeastern Australia.

Collisions and noise pollution from motor vehicles, domestic animals, such as dogs and cats, can cause the death of forest owls.

With a mean annual increase of the global temperature by 1 °C, 10 to 16% of mammals in the wet tropics of northeastern Australia will face extinction with over half of their habitat becoming lost or unsuitable.

A 3.5 °C rise in the wet tropics will provoke the near extinction of 60 to 80%  of native mammals and half of vertebrates in this region.

[30] The only states in Australia that produced a conservation plan to protect the large forest owls on all public land are Victoria and New South Wales.

[23] Their objective is to keep sooty owl populations viable by establishing 500 management locations on public land.

[3] Between 1990 and 1997, New South Wales preserved mature, hollow trees in logged areas to protect sooty owls and their prey.

[23] Conservation plans need to protect multiple forested areas of at least the size of the male sooty owl range.

[3] States need to initiate other practices such as the control of feral predators (e.g foxes) to allow sooty owls to have better access to prey.