English            -             Striped Owl

Portuguese    -              Coruja-orelhuda

Latin               -               Asio clamator

The Striped Owl is a poorly-known resident of the Neotropics. Although it is a relatively large and distinctive owl, the Striped Owl is easily overlooked, and even its geographic distribution is poorly known. 

The Striped Owl is a medium-sized owl with large ear tufts and a brownish-white facial disk rimmed with black. Its beak is black, and it has cinnamon-coloured eyes. It has shorter, rounder wings than most of its close relatives. The upper parts are cinnamon with fine black vermiculation and heavy stripes. The underparts are a pale tawny colour with dusky streaks. It can get to around 38 cm in length, with a  Wing span of 228-294 mm and it can weigh up to 550g. Both sexes are similar, with females slightly larger than the males.
The juvenile resembles adults, but it has cinnamon to buffy-white facial disk. On the body, its plumage is rather buff, with greyish to dark brown streaks. They emits a long, strident, hawk-like whistle wheeyoo. The song of the male is a series of well-spaced nasal hoots, while female gives a similar but more shrill song. Both sexes have series of barking calls and fledged young give high-pitched screams, weehe.

Striped owls are distributed from southern Mexico to Panama, and from northern South America to Uruguay and north Argentina, east of the Andes. They prefers open or semi-open grassland and savannah with scattered trees, small groves and bushes. It also occurs in open marshland with bushes, pasture and agricultural land, as well as in wooded suburban areas. Ranges from sea-level up to approximately 1600m.

They are mainly nocturnal, and are more active at sunset. By day the Striped owl roosts in dense foliage of small trees or shrubs, sometimes on the ground beneath vegetation cover or even in pine plantation. During the non-breeding season several individuals may gather in flocks and roost together by daytime. 

Striped Owls eat many kinds of small animals, including squirrels, mice, voles, rabbits, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and invertebrates. They hunt by sitting and waiting on an elevated perch, while scanning all around for prey with their sharp eyes and ears. Though they do most of their hunting after sunset and during the night, sometimes they feed during the day. Barred Owls may temporarily store their prey in a nest, in the crook of a branch, or at the top of a snag. They swallow small prey whole and large prey in pieces, eating the head first and then the body. 

Breeding season may vary, but mainly from August to March. At the beginning of the breeding season, the male vocalises. It may perform some wing-clapping displays while flying. Some displays may occur at the nest-site, such as ritualised scraping. The Striped Owl nests on flat ground, hidden in long grassy clumps or thick bush. Some nests can be found in trees. The female lays between one to five eggs and she alone incubates the eggs for approximately 33 days. She hardly leaves the nest during this period. The male provides food for the female and young. The female takes the prey from the male and tears it into small pieces for the nestlings. When the nestlings are bigger, the male drops the prey at nest when they are able to feed themselves. Nestlings fledge after 46th days after hatching and after 140 days the young  are expelled from the parents territory. At the time of expulsion, only one or two nestling have normally survived.

Besides man made threats, (like vehicles and being shot) the Striped Owl has natural predators such as birds of prey and larger owls.
This species is widespread and has a large range, This species occupies open or semi-open habitats, and often is found in anthropogenic habitats such as airstrips, rice fields, plantations, and even in urban open areas. It is possible, therefore, that the Striped Owl may be increasing in abundance and expanding its range, due to forests being cleared for agricultural and commercial purposes. Therefore the Striped Owl is a species classed as “a species of least concern”.

All photos of the Striped owl were taken at “Parque das Arves - Foz do Iguacu - Parana.