This small owl inhabits the highlands of Guatemala and southern Mexico. It occurs in rufous and brown colour morphs and takes small prey in forests and at forest edges.
Rufous and brown morphs are known. The head and back are rufous or brown, the face has pale spots, and the whitish underparts carry rufous streaks.
It uses montane pine-oak and conifer forest, forest edges, secondary woodland and shaded coffee plantations at about 1,500–3,500 m. It is partly active by day and takes insects and small vertebrates.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.