Stygian Owl Asio stygius Scientific name definitions

Stygian Owl is surprisingly poorly known for such a large and widespread owl. This species is distributed throughout the Neotropics in a wide variety of habitats, but usually prefers relatively open woodlands, such as pine-oak and deciduous forests, and even can be found in urban parks. The diet of Stygian Owl includes mammals, but apparently it feeds mostly on birds; species that it preys upon range in size from the very small, such as Blue-black Grassquits (Volatinia jacarina), up to birds at least as large as small tinamous and city pigeons. In the field Stygian Owl appears attenuated, with a relatively small dark head and prominent "ear" tufts, and with dense dark streaking on the underparts.