Spectacled Owl

Photo copyright: monacoeye • Do not copy • Pipeline Road • 24 April 2010

Bird name: Spectacled Owl
Latin: Pulsatrix perspicillata
Other: Búho de antifaz (Es), Oropopo, Lechuzón • Murucututu (Br), Murucutu
Family: Strigidae
Range: Mexico to Argentina


This Spectacled Owl was very difficult to see and focus on, perched inside a hollow in the canopy in almost total darkness. This large owl will sometimes prey on the much larger three-toed sloth.

This individual was seen off the Pipeline Road in central Panama. The Panamanian subspecies is Pulsatrix perspicillata chapmani. Spectacled Owls live from southern Mexico and Trinidad to southern Brazil and northwestern Argentina.