Mottled Owl

How to find it

Most sightings are by chance, so go out near dusk or dawn and listen first. Owls are usually most active in the first hours after sunset, and around Arenal they often start calling between 6:30 and 9 p.m. Scan horizontal branches in thick cover, about two to five meters up, along secondary forest edges. Guides tell species apart by tone and rhythm, so a local guide helps a great deal. On a trip we build, evening owl walks in the highlands of San Gerardo de Dota and night walks around Arenal and La Fortuna are good ways to look for it. Keep any torch on the bird for no more than a few seconds at a time; brief checks are fine.

How to recognise it

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

Face: pale facial disc with a dark rim around large dark eyes. The eyes are dark brown, not yellow.

Head: no ear tufts.

Bill: yellow.

Upperparts: dark brown with pale buff spots and streaks.

Underparts: paler, with heavy dark streaks.

Birds from southeastern Mexico to western Panama, which includes Costa Rica, belong to the subspecies centralis. They average smaller and more barred above than other races, and some are a dark morph with brown-washed underparts. Other owls in the same genus are all larger.

What it sounds like

Recording: Hersson Ramírez, CC BY 4.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

A Mottled Owl may sit quietly in a tree and stay put while calling or roosting, which makes dusk or early morning sightings possible, even in well-treed gardens. When found by day, a hunched, roosting bird often flies off once spotted. It hunts mostly from perches along forest edges and sometimes hunts bats and insects near streetlamps. A nest found in Grecia was unusual: two white eggs lay in a natural cavity on the ground near a stream, while nests of the species are usually reported three to thirteen meters up. Breeding starts in February around San Vito.

Where it lives

In Costa Rica it prefers forest with dense understory. It uses primary forest edges, advanced secondary growth and shaded coffee farms that still have tall trees. Mottled Owls seem to live in any woodland from sea level up to at least 1,700 meters, maybe higher, and may be especially common in cloud forest. It is more common in Pacific slope forests of the central and southern Pacific than in the humid Caribbean lowlands, though it still occurs countrywide. It is less common on the Osa Peninsula but present there.

When to see it

The owls are present and vocal all year. Dry season (December to April) gives easier trail access, and the wet season brings more territorial calling. Eggs are laid from February to April.

Similar birds

The Crested Owl has prominent ear tufts, bright yellow eyes and a deep resonant hoot, unlike the Mottled Owl's descending hollow notes. The Black-and-white Owl is similar in size, but black and white with an orange bill and legs, and its call is a rapid series of low guttural notes. They also differ in diet: the Mottled Owl mostly takes rodents, the Black-and-white Owl mostly bats.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

The Costa Rican Spanish name is Lechuza Café. Other Spanish names used for the species include búho café, lechuza listada, lechuza rayada and lechuza estriada.

Status and conservation

The AOCR list marks it as a resident (R), and the IUCN lists it as Least Concern because of its very wide range and large population.

Photography tips

When found, the owl may flatten itself against a branch and look like a broken stub. It prefers spots with cover overhead and open space below to launch from, so check those first. The hard part is getting close enough without disturbing it, so keep your distance and keep light use brief.