Black-banded Owl

The Black-banded Owl is a medium-sized owl of South American tropical forests, recognized by its dark brown plumage boldly barred with white across the underparts and a rounded head without ear tufts. It inhabits lowland and foothill rainforests from Colombia and Venezuela south to Bolivia and Brazil. Nocturnal and secretive, it feeds on small mammals, birds, and insects, calling with distinctive hooting notes in the forest understory.