The Foothill Screech Owl is a small owl of Andean foothill forests and adjacent western Amazonian forest. A Peru species account gives a length of about 21 cm and distinguishes gray and rufous color forms.
It occurs in gray and rufous forms, has amber eyes, gray-fringed facial discs, and conspicuous white spots on the folded wing coverts. It lacks a pale collar at the nape.
It inhabits humid lower Yungas and foothill forest, nearby ridges, and adjacent Amazonian terra firme. In Bolivia it has been recorded alone or in pairs in the understory and lower middle levels.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.