Rufous-legged Owl

Taxobox
name = Rufous-legged Owl
status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1


image_caption =
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Strigiformes
familia = Strigidae
genus = Strix
species = "S. rufipes"
binomial = "Strix rufipes"
binomial_authority = King, 1828

The Rufous-legged Owl ("Strix rufipes") is a medium sized owl with no ear tufts. Its upper parts are rufous brown barred with white with more white on the head and nape. It has a rufous facial disk and dark eyes, and its legs and feet are orange-brown to cinnamon. It grows to a size about 33-38 cm long and weighs about 300-400 grams. Its range stretches from central Chile and west Argentina to Tierra del Fuego and is occasionally spotted on the Falkland Islands. It lives in dense, moist montane forest and semi-open lowland forest where it can catch small mammals, birds, and insects. It breeds in October and lays 2-3 eggs in a tree hole. Its call is a rapid grunting followed by high pitched nasal noises. Though it is not threatened it does suffer habitat loss because of logging in a large part of its range.

References

http://www.owls.org/Species/strix/rufous_legged_owl.htm