Physical description: 

The Spectacled Owl is dark brown with a yellow belly.  There is a white patch on the neck and a brown belt across the chest.    Their name comes from the big yellow eyes with white specs around them.  They have strong beaks and feet. They are the largest of the tropical owls. The female is larger than the male.

Average Adult Size

• Height 16-18 inches 

• Weight - Male 1-1.5 pounds, Female 1.5-2 pounds 

• Usually nocturnal and very elusive.   
• Call - Long repeated tapping sound.  
• Breeding - Spectacled owls nest late in the dry season, which falls between April and October in various parts of Central and South America. Although 2-3 eggs are laid, only one may survive long enough to leave the nest. The chicks fledge at about 6 months, but will remain with their parents for up to a year. Young spectacled owls have white heads and bodies with a dark mask.
• Hunting Behavior: Hunts from its perch on a high branch, and then drops swiftly on any prey it has spotted.
• Spectacled owls can live up to 25 years.

• The Owl Pages - www.owlpages.com/species/spectacled/index.html 
• Owling: http://owling.com/Spectacled.htm
• The Hawk Conservancy: http://www.hawk-conservancy.org/priors/spectacl.shtml
• Animal Fact Sheets: http://www.zoo.org/educate/fact_sheets/raptors/spec.htm
• John A Burton (Editor). Owls of the World, 1973.  E.P. Dutton &Co., Inc. New York. 
• Mary Louise Grossman & John Hamlet.  Birds of Prey of the World, 1964.  Clarkson N. Potter Inc. New York 
• Grzimek, Bernhard, editor-in-chief. Grzimek's Animal life encyclopedia.  New York, Van Nostrand Reinhold Co. [1972-1975]