Buff-fronted Owl

The buff-fronted owl is 19 to 21 cm (7.5 to 8.3 in) long and weighs 104 to 155 g (3.7 to 5.5 oz). It is compact and has a short tail and a large blocky head without ear tufts. Its facial disks are buff with a black surround and distinctive black patches above its greenish yellow eyes. The nominate subspecies' forehead and hindneck are yellowish buff and the rest of the head and upperparts chocolate brown. The tail is blackish and has two white bars and a white tip. Its chin has a small brown patch and the rest of the underparts are yellowish buff. A. h. dabbenei has darker upperparts and a cinnamon tinge on the underparts. A. h. iheringi is also darker above and its underparts are a deeper orange.

The nominate subspecies of the buff-fronted owl is found discontinuously in the Andes from Venezuela south to southern Peru. A. h. iheringi is also found discontinuously, in Bolivia, Paraguay, eastern Brazil, and in southern Brazil, northeastern Argentina, and northeastern Paraguay. A. h. dabbenei is found in northwestern Argentina, and birds observed in western Bolivia might also be this subspecies. The subspecies of birds found locally on the tepuis of southern Venezuela and Guyana is not known. The buff-fronted owl inhabits a variety of landscapes including open humid forest, dry forest, forest edges, subtropical rainforest, and human-altered areas with fruit trees and palms. In the Andes it ranges between 1,500 and 3,800 m (4,900 and 12,500 ft) and elsewhere between about 600 and 1,000 m (2,000 and 3,300 ft).

The buff-fronted owl's hunting behavior and diet have not been studied. It has been recorded taking insects, rodents, birds, and other small vertebrates.