Fulvous Owl Strix fulvescens

Fulvous Owl inhabits humid evergreen and pine-oak montane forests from southern Mexico to El Salvador and Honduras. Fulvous Owl nests in tree cavities and mainly consumes rodents and insects. Some authors have considered it to be a subspecies of Barred Owl (Strix varia). Like Barred Owl, Fulvous Owl is a large, dark-eyed owl that lacks ear tufts, has a yellow bill, is barred above and on the breast, and is streaked on the belly. Fulvous Owl is smaller than Barred Owl, however, and has a different pattern to its call, indicating that it merits recognition as a separate species. Although most Mexican records are from east of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, new recordings of its short, Morse-code-like song from Oaxaca suggest that the species is also found west of the Isthmus.