Unspotted Saw-whet Owl

How to find it

Plan a night outing at high elevation, because the bird lives above about 2,500 m, is active at night and has few individuals. Dusk and the hour before dawn are when it seems to become active. Learn the song first, since owls are usually found by voice. Cerro de la Muerte, in the Talamanca range, lists it on its bird checklist alongside other highland owls and the Resplendent Quetzal. The high ground of Turrialba Volcano is also named as a place to look. Treat any sighting as a bonus rather than a certainty.

How to recognise it

This is a tiny owl, about 18 cm long and 80 g. Look for these marks:

- a big head and a round face

- no ear tufts

- sturdy legs

- plain brown upperparts, throat and upper breast

- plain cinnamon buff lower breast and belly

- a brownish face with whitish eyebrows and chin

- yellow to honey-yellow eyes

- a plain brown tail

It lacks the spotting of its relatives, which is where its English name comes from.

What it sounds like

Recording: Tommy Andriollo, CC BY 4.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

The Unspotted Saw-whet Owl is strictly nocturnal and unsociable, and its habits are little known. In Costa Rica it seems to become active just after dusk and just before dawn. Like most owls, it is usually detected by its voice rather than by sight.

It appears to breed in the dry season and the start of the rainy season. Its diet is described under food below.

Where it lives

In Costa Rica it is a resident of the Central Volcanic and Talamanca ranges, at roughly 2,200 to 2,928 m above sea level, including the Turrialba, Irazú and Barva volcanoes. It uses the canopy and edges of forest, clearings, and pastures with scattered tall trees. This includes high mountain oak forest and slightly lower montane and cloud forest. Researchers in Costa Rica find a strong preference for páramo and elfin forest. Across its whole range it occurs in montane and cloud forest from about 1,660 to 3,475 m.

When to see it

It appears to breed in the dry season and the start of the rainy season.

Similar birds

Calls of tree frogs of the genus Anotheca sound very much like the owl's song and are easily mistaken for it. The song is also very like that of the Northern Saw-whet Owl, but the two do not overlap in range, since the Isthmus of Tehuantepec separates them. Costa Rica has only the Unspotted. The adult plumage is very like the juvenile plumage of the Northern, which does not occur here.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

Other Spanish names include Lechucita de Alfaro, buhito pardo, tecolote canelo and tecolote afilador. The Alfaro name honours the Costa Rican naturalist Anastasio Alfaro, who collected the first specimen in 1903 at Cerro La Candelaria near Escazú.

Status and conservation

The AOCR list marks it as a resident (R), and the IUCN lists it as Least Concern.