4 February 2026

While in Costa Rica with Road Scholar on 26 January: On our way to Arenal we needed some snacks and bottled drinks so we combined a visit to the grocery store with a stop for barn owls. Yes, there were barn owls at the grocery store.

Inside the building it was a typical supermarket with a wide selection of food.

However, there was a ledge close to the roof peak and on that ledge was a pair of American barn owls (Tyto furcata).

I digiscoped the front-facing owl (at top) but the second owl was harder to see. Gary Levinson-Palmer captured these photos.

Because there was sunlight behind them, I believe the owls come into a gap between the roof peak-section and the main roof. These gaps are needed for ventilation and heat reduction. Here’s an (exaggerated) example from Wikimedia Commons (not in Costa Rica).

This sighting was a first. I’ve seen house sparrows at a Pittsburgh grocery store but never owls!