[3] One is occasionally treated as a separate species called the short-browed or brown-spectacled owl[4] but the consensus is that it is still merely a race until more detailed analysis can be done.

[5] The spectacled owl is found in Mexico, Central America (Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama), Trinidad and Tobago, and South America (Colombia, Venezuela, Suriname, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Argentina).

[1] The spectacled owl is primarily a bird of tropical rainforests, being found mostly in areas where dense, old-growth forest is profuse.

[6][7] It is unmistakable in most of its range (except with other Pulsatrix owls) with blackish brown upperparts, head and upper breast, white facial markings, and whitish to yellowish-ochre underparts.

The head is typically darker than the back and mantle but the shade of this area besides the composition of the breast band is the main distinguishing external feature of the subspecies.

The spectacled owl is generally found at lower elevations than the band-bellied but their ranges overlap or abut from Colombia to northern Bolivia.

The tawny-browed owl (P. koeniswaldiana), found from northeastern Argentina to eastern Brazil, is fairly similar in appearance to the spectacled but is obviously smaller with ochraceous-tawny from the eyebrows down to the belly and dark chestnut eyes.

[4] In Colombia, an author noted that the song is similar to the tapping pattern of the great spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos major).

Most hunting starts with the owl perched on a branch and scanning the area, then dropping with a quick pounce when prey is located.

The primary food by far in Oaxaca, Mexico was the Peters's climbing rat (Tylomys nudicaudus) followed by mouse opossums (Marmosa ssp.)

[16][17] Invertebrates are eaten regularly as well, second only in importance to mammals, mainly caterpillars, but also crabs, snails, large insects, and spiders.

Birds are also taken, including mainly medium-sized species in the average weight range of 100 to 500 g (3.5 to 17.6 oz), such as jays, oropendolas (Psarocolius ssp.

However, being a large, slow-maturing bird of prey with a strong sense of territoriality, it as a rule occurs at low densities.