Black-and-white Owl

How to find it

Try tall trees along a lagoon edge and trails around villages in the northern wetlands. Owls are sometimes seen around streetlights next to primary forest or old second growth. They seem to favour tree-fall gaps and forest edge, where bats are easier to catch. Go out after sunset or before sunrise, and listen first, since the owls are most vocal in the dry season. At dawn or dusk one may sit quietly near a roost tree. In Orotina, a local man knows where the owls roost and has shown them to birding visitors.

How to recognise it

This is a medium-sized owl, 35 to 40 cm long. Look for these marks:

Black and white barring on the chest and belly.

A dark face with bright white eyebrow lines.

Reddish-brown eyes.

A round head with no ear tufts.

Sooty black upperparts, apart from a black-and-white striped collar.

A yellow-orange bill.

Those white eyebrows against the dark face are the quickest feature to look for when a torch or streetlight catches it. The size and plumage details describe the species across its whole range, not only Costa Rica.

What it sounds like

Recording: Linzy L., CC BY-SA 4.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

It is solitary and nocturnal. In Costa Rica it often hunts along forest edges, dropping from a perch straight onto prey on the ground or in vegetation. Across its range it hunts mostly from a perch but sometimes on the wing. It is mostly active at night, though it can sometimes be seen perched quietly near roost trees at dawn or dusk. It is fairly tolerant of people nesting nearby and tends to nest high in very tall trees such as mahogany. In Costa Rica it breeds in the dry season, and two adults and a juvenile were seen together in December.

Where it lives

In Costa Rica it ranges from sea level up to about 1500 m in some localities, and it is local in the lowlands and foothill slopes. It lives in the interior, canopy and edges of wet forest. In dry areas it uses gallery forest and evergreen forest. Records come from the north, including Bijagua and Boca Tapada, from the Sarapiquí area, from the central Pacific side at Orotina and Tárcoles, and from Arenal Volcano National Park.

When to see it

It breeds in the dry season, and March to May is given as the best season at a northern wetland refuge, when owls are most vocal. Look after sunset and before sunrise.

Similar birds

The Mottled Owl is a similar-sized Costa Rican owl. The two split their food: Mottled Owls take rodents, while Black-and-white Owls stick mostly to bats. The Black-banded Owl of eastern South America looks alike but is mostly black with narrow white bars, while this owl is mostly white below with fine dark bars. The two do not overlap with Costa Rica.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

The official Costa Rican bird list gives the Spanish name Lechuza Blanco y Negro, with Lechuza Cuijen as an alternate name.

Status and conservation

The official Costa Rican bird list (AOCR) gives it resident (R) status, and it is uncommon to rare in the country.

Photography tips

At night, look at streetlights, open areas and forest edge next to old second growth, where the owls come to catch bats. Day roosts in the Orotina plaza trees are another option, and one owl roosted in a fairly open tree at the park edge.