A Parliament of Owls. David Tipling

white markings around its large yellow eyes recall a pair of glasses perched on its sharply hooked bill.

      The Spectacled Owl is the largest truly tropical owl of the Americas, and one of the most recognizable owls anywhere. It does not have the cryptic camouflage patterning common to most of the owls described in this book: the upper parts are a plain chocolate-brown to black, while the under parts, below the dark brown breast band, are pale yellowish to fawn. However, it is the bird’s face that grabs the attention: bold white eyebrows and lores almost completely encircle the bright yellow eyes, as though the bird has pressed a pair of binoculars to its face with the eye-pieces covered in chalk. A broad white band runs across the throat and beneath the bill like a chinstrap: against the otherwise sooty black face and head, the effect is very striking.