Costa Rica Photo Gallery

Birds and Wildlife at Rancho Naturalista

January 2009 -- Digiscoped images by Joseph Morlan

Mottled Owl (Ciccaba virgata centralis)
24 January 2009, Rancho Naturalista, Costa Rica Seeing this medium-sized owl involved a treacherous hike down a steep, slippery, muddy trail. The bird was deep in shadowy vegetation so getting a picture without too many branches while keeping the bird in focus was a digiscoping challenge. This species is sometimes called the Mottled Wood-Owl but that name is now generally reserved for "Strix ocellata" of India. Many authors (e.g. HBW) merge the genus Ciccaba into Strix, but the AOU and Clements have retained this bird and several related species in Ciccaba based on differences in its external ear structure. This species is polymorphic with light and dark forms. This is a dark morph bird with the underparts washed with brown. Seven subspecies are recognized and one or two of the South American races have been recognized as separate species in the past. This is the race C. v. centralis is southern Middle America. It averages smaller and more barred on the back than other races. As in most owls, males are smaller than females. We judged this individual was probably a male. Panasonic Lumix LZ5 / Nikon FieldScope 3 / 30X WA hand-held (no adapter)
Joseph Morlan