Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, USA, Venezuela.
Population
Estimated population is 500,000 - 4,999,999 (2010).
Mottled Owl (Strix virgata) [XC261650]
by Olaf Jahn from Esmeraldas: Playa de Oro, village and vicinity, R\u00edo Santiago, Ecuador (song)
Mottled Owl (Strix virgata) [XC617303]
by Marcelo Javier Wioneczak from Villa Venecia, Cerro Cor\u00e1, departamento Candelaria, Misiones, Argentina (song)
Subspecies
Western Colombian birds sometimes separated as subspecies minuscula.
The following 7 subspecies are recognised:
squamulata (Bonaparte, 1850) - Western Mexico (Sonora to Guerrero and Guanajuato to Morelos).
tamaulipensis Phillips, JC, 1911 - North-eastern Mexico (southern Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas).
centralis (Griscom, 1929) - Eastern and southern Mexico to western Panama.