It is a medium-sized owl, easily recognizable with its very long whitish ear tufts and otherwise darker appearance.

The genus of the crested owl is in the family Strigidae as well as the subfamily Striginae and is traditionally recognized as a part of the tribe Strigini along with Strix, Jubula and Pulsatrix.

The crested owl is found in Central America and northern South America, where it occurs in Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.

[10] In Mexico, they are found in tropical evergreen and semi-deciduous forests, riparian areas, clearings and foothills.

They generally roost with their pair-member during the day in dense bushes, along forested streams or rivers and like to perch 3 to 10 meters above ground.

[4] The crested owl breeds during the dry or early wet season and apparently nest in naturally occurring holes of mature trees.

Recent observations described two crested owl preying on Seba's short tailed bat in mist nets.

[11] According to the IUCN red list of threatened species, the crested owl is of least concern as of 2012, with populations classified as stable.

[1] This owl is still fairly common in undisturbed primary forests of the amazon, but could become locally endangered where deforestation takes place.