Tropical Screech-Owl - BirdForum Opus

Photo by Ciro Albano
Chapada do Araripe, Ceará, Brazil

Megascops choliba

Otus choliba

Identification

Juvenile
Photo © by Aracari
Campinas, Brazil, 8 December 2007

20-24cm

• Short ear tufts
• Yellow eyes
• Light grey, black edged facial disk
• Heavily streaked upper-parts and under-parts marked with herring bone pattern

• Grey, brown and red colour morphs occur with intermediates.

Distribution

From Costa Rica through the northern half of South America including Trinidad but not found west of the Andes.

Taxonomy

This and almost all Screech-Owls in the Americas have previously been considered to belong in the same genus (Otus) as the European and Asian Scops-Owls, but a reassignment to Megascops have been accepted by among other authorities, the American Ornithologists' Union.

Subspecies^[1]

Nine subspecies are recognized:

• M. c. luctisonus:

• Costa Rica to north-western Colombia; winters to Pearl Islands (Panama)

• M. c. margaritae:

• Isla Margarita (off north-western Venezuela)

• M. c. duidae:

• Duida Mountains (southern Venezuela)

• M. c. cruciger (montanus, kelsoi, alticola, caucae):

• Eastern Colombia to Venezuela, the Guianas, eastern Peru and north-eastern Brazil

• M. c. surutus:

• Bolivia

• M. c. decussatus (caatingensis):

• South-central and eastern Brazil

• M. c. choliba (chapadensis):

• Southern Brazil (southern Mato Grosso and São Paulo) to eastern Paraguay

• M. c. wetmorei (alilucoco):

• Western Paraguay and northern Argentina

• M. c. uruguaii:

• South-eastern Brazil to Uruguay and north-eastern Argentina

Habitat

Savanna, open forest, plantations, parks, clearings. Mainly in lowland, can be found somewhat high as long as local weather is warm.

Behaviour

Diet

The diet includes insects and other invertebrates, occasionally snakes and small mammals.

Breeding

The clutch of 1-4 eggs are laid in a tree cavity. There has been one report of a pair using a nest built by a Guira Cuckoo.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2019. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World: v2019. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Word Owl Trust
3. Ornithologia Neotropical

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Tropical Screech-Owl. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 24 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Tropical_Screech-Owl

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