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-colored eyes. It has shorter, rounder wings than most of its close relatives. The upperparts are cinnamon with fine black vermiculation and heavy stripes. The underparts are pale tawny with dusky streaks. It is 30–38 cm (11.8–15 in) and weighs from 320 to 546 g (11.3 to 19.3 oz).

It uses a variety of habitats, including riparian woodlands, marshes, savannahs, grassy open areas, and tropical rainforests. It can be found from sea level to 1600 meters (5,250 ft.) and above.

It lives in South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

, and parts of Central America

Central America

Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...

.

Its systematic

Systematics

Biological systematics is the study of the diversification of terrestrial life, both past and present, and the relationships among living things through time. Relationships are visualized as evolutionary trees...

 placement is not resolved. Different authorities place it either in Asio

Asio

Asio is a genus of typical owls, or true owls, in family Strigidae. The genus Asio contains the eared owls, which are characterised by feather tufts on the head which have the appearance of ears...

, in Pseudoscops together with the Jamaican Owl

Jamaican Owl

The Jamaican Owl is a medium-sized tawny colored owl that is endemic to the island of Jamaica. It is considered by some the only member of its genus Pseudoscops, while other authorities include in it the Striped Owl. It has dark brown barring, flecking and streaks and its amber facial disk is...

, or more rarely into the monotypic genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 Rhinoptynx.

External links

• Striped Owl videos on the Internet Bird Collection
• Stamps (for Suriname
  Suriname
  Suriname , officially the Republic of Suriname , is a country in northern South America. It borders French Guiana to the east, Guyana to the west, Brazil to the south, and on the north by the Atlantic Ocean. Suriname was a former colony of the British and of the Dutch, and was previously known as...
  
  ) with RangeMap
• Photo-Medium Res; Article borderland-tours
• Striped Owl photo gallery VIREO