Jamaican Owl

The Jamaican owl was high on my list of want-to-sees, but I figured virtually impossible to see. At Rocklands Bird Sanctuary, outside Montego Bay, I asked Fritz early on if he ever sees Jamaican owls? He said he did. At the end of a couple of hours, when I had to get back to the hotel for further activities, he motioned me over toward the front of the house and a bushy small tree. Underneath the canopy he pointed me toward the top and asked me what it was. I couldn't see it for the longest time. Finally I saw it and he asked, what is it? Of course it was an owl, he'd saved one of the best for last (the one I'd asked about and he knew I wanted to see). 

Later I went with a different birder to San San, very early in the morning while it was dark, and he had recorded owl sounds. One responded nearby, but we were never able to see it. 

The owl has long ear tufts; dark brown eyes, a rufous facial disk rimmed in black-flecked white; rufous upperparts, a rufous tail with dark brown bars; a rufous breast and belly with narrow dark brown streaks.