The place
Ecoparque Alcázares Arenillo, Manizales, Caldas, Colombia. On the edge of Manizales, this eco-park protects a green ravine of secondary forest right up against the city, and a Spectacled Owl roosts in its shade. I found it just before 6 a.m. on a July morning in 2018.
The shot
Through a gap in the leaves, the owl sat on a mossy branch deep in the green and looked straight back at me. White ‘spectacles’ framed its yellow eyes against a dark chocolate face, and the out-of-focus leaves in the foreground left just enough of an opening to see it clearly.
The bird
An owl of the family Strigidae, the Spectacled Owl (Pulsatrix perspicillata) has a range BirdLife estimates at 18.2 million km², with tropical swamp forest as its major habitat.
Conservation
Least Concern (IUCN Red List, last assessed 2018), though BirdLife reports the population trend as decreasing. Source: BirdLife International