Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela.
Population
Estimated population is 500,000 - 4,999,999 (2010).
Spectacled Owl (Pulsatrix) [XC592818]
by Jacob Wijpkema from Finca San Jorge, Morelia\/Caquet\u00e1, Colombia (song, dueto)
Spectacled Owl (Pulsatrix) [XC410070]
by Ross Gallardy from Goi\u00e2nia -GO. Alta Floresta Eventos - Av. Samambaia Campus UFGO., Brazil (song)
Subspecies
Subspecies chapmani, trinitatis and boliviana poorly differentiated, perhaps not valid.
The following 6 subspecies are recognised:
saturata Ridgway, 1914 - Southern Mexico (Veracruz and Oaxaca) to western Panama (Pacific Slope to Chiriquí).
chapmani Griscom, 1932 - Caribbean slope of Costa Rica through eastern Panama to Colombia, western Ecuador and north-western Peru.
trinitatis Bangs & Penard, TE, 1918 - Trinidad.
perspicillata (Latham, 1790) - Venezuela, the Guianas, Brazil, and from eastern Colombia south to northern Bolivia.
boliviana Kelso, L, 1933 - Southern Bolivia and northern Argentina.
pulsatrix (zu Wied-Neuwied, 1820) - Eastern Brazil (Bahia south to Rio Grande do Sul) and Paraguay, probably also north-eastern Argentina (Misiones). Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Short-browed Owl (Pulsatrix pulsatrix).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet