It is found in widely separated areas in every South American country except French Guiana and Suriname.

[3][4] The buff-fronted owl was described by the American ornithologist John Cassin in 1849, and given the binomial name Nyctale harrisii.

Its closest relative is the northern saw-whet owl (A. acadicus) of Canada and the U.S., and the other two extant members of the genus are found there and in Mexico.

The nominate subspecies' forehead and hindneck are yellowish buff and the rest of the head and upperparts chocolate brown.

[8] The nominate subspecies of the buff-fronted owl is found discontinuously in the Andes from Venezuela south to southern Peru.

A. h. dabbenei is found in northwestern Argentina, and birds observed in western Bolivia might also be this subspecies.