The Rufous-legged is significantly darker than the Chacoan, the former tending to have charcoal-grey or rich-brown facediscs (depending on the morph) compared to the paler ashy-white facediscs of the latter taxon, as well as more profusely coloured bodies.
This is the brown morph of the Rufous-legged:
This is a link to a photo of the grey morph of Rufous-legged (the image being too large to post)
This is a Chacoan Owl:
By the by, the species spectrum actually stretches beyond these two species - the Mottled Owl intergrades into the Rusty-barred Owl, which itself intergrades into the Rufous-legged Owl.
It was taken at woodhurst raptor foundation. I had the same problem with google.
The reason I wasn't convinced with it being a chaco is the dark sooty face which is unlike the chaco tld posted above and to me looked similar to the grey morph rufous-legged. However hybrids are going to be difficult to rule out.
The reason I wasn't convinced with it being a chaco is the dark sooty face which is unlike the chaco tld posted above and to me looked similar to the grey morph rufous-legged.
Yeah, that's the one thing that gives me pause too - as noted above and in my private message to you, the thing that made me go one way rather than t'other was how monochromatic the body of this animal is - as the body of the grey-morph rufous-legged (as visible in that linked photo) is much more richly coloured
Now I've slept on the matter I think it is more likely to be a hybrid to some degree than it is a true Chaco, but whichever one you end up treating it as will probably just come down to personal choice
