Bird of the Month: Crested Owl

The Crested Owl (Lophostrix cristata) is a widespread, strictly nocturnal species found inside humid forests from southern Mexico to Amazonian South America.  Within its distribution, is unlikely to be confused with other species due to its long and pale ear-tufts.

Crested Owl

Its deep growl is a distinctive sound at night in the forest of the Caribbean slope of the former Canal Area in central Panama (where I took these photos).  However, localizing them at night is extremely difficult; this species like to call from the mid to upper level of the trees and always seems to be hidden.

Its diet consist mainly in big insects; however, it can include small mammals as well, like rodents.  That's probably the case with this individual, photographed behind the Panama Rainforest Discovery Center this cloudy morning.

Crested Owl

There are three recognized subspecies, of which two occur in Panama.  The one supposedly found in central and eastern Panama (and northern South America), wedeli, differs from Amazonian nominate in its yellow eyes according to one reference; however, I do not know if this can be evaluated in daylight, but these photos (and many other from central Panama, in daylight as well) show no yellow at all.  The subspecies stricklandi, found from western Panama to southern Mexico, differs in darker head coloration, yellow eyes and vocalizations.

Crested Owl

This species generally roosts by day in tangled thickets, sometimes very low or along streams, and nest in tree holes.  It is always a treat to find a day-roosting owl, and this was not the exception.  For these, and many other reasons, is why we chose the Crested Owl as our Bird of the Month!

Crested Owl

Literature consulted:  

1.  Angehr G, Dean R.  The Birds of Panama. A Field Guide. Zona Tropical 2010.

2.  Mikkola H. Owls of the World: a Photographic Guide. Second edition 2012.

3.  Holt, W., Berkley, R., Deppe, C., Enríquez Rocha, P., Petersen, J.L., Rangel Salazar, J.L., Segars, K.P., Wood, K.L. & Kirwan, G.M. (2015). Crested Owl (Lophostrix cristata). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.) (2015). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. (retrieved from http://www.hbw.com/node/55052 on 1 March 2015).

Night outing

Some weeks ago, I went to the famous Pipeline Road and its Rainforest Discovery Center, in central Panama, with Osvaldo Quintero and Rafael Luck, but this time at night during one of the scheduled "night trips" they organize. Of course, our main objective were the owls that live deep inside that forest, specially the Crested Owl that have been reported recently by the Center's staff and which would be new for all three of us. It was a chilly night, and since the instant of our arrival we felt surrounded by the darkness and the silence, only disturbed by the occasional breeze and the buzzing insects. Julia was our (excellent) guide for the night, and we almost immediately heard a Crested Owl behind the facilities, but it was far away. I also heard a distant Spectacled Owl, they sound like a distant machine gun as Ridgely states in "A guide to the birds of Panama". Of course, the photo I'm picturing here is of a different individual that I took many years ago in daylight because we saw no owls that night. These are big birds, actually the biggest of the regular encountered owls in Panama, and one that I have found several times, both at day and night. Julia also heard a distant Tropical Screech-Owl. However, the real show was performed by a little troop of Western Night Monkeys. It is amazing how these creatures move around the tree tops and the branches so acrobatically in complete darkness! My poor photos are due to the distance and the almost complete lack of any source of light. At close range, they don't look like monkeys to me... but like big-eyed squirrels or something like that as you can see in the daylight photo I took in Panama City of a sleeping pair of these some months ago (thanks Beny). There are some taxonomic issues about this species; some think that this form, which occurs in Panama and the colombian Pacific slope, is a good species by its own: the Choco Night Monkey. Eventually, we heard another Crested Owl close to the tower, but despite our efforts, it remained invisible. We heard several others Crested Owl in the entrance road too, plus more Night Monkeys, so I think it was a succesfull night after all!