Doodle screech owl
| Doodle screech owl | ||||||||||
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Scribble Screech Owl ( Megascops vermiculatus ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Megascops vermiculatus | ||||||||||
| Ridgway , 1887 |
The doodle screech owl ( Megascops vermiculatus ) is a species from the family of real owls. It occurs exclusively in Central and South America.
Appearance
With a body size of about 20 to 23 centimeters, the scribble screech owl is a small to medium-sized species within its genus. The feather ears are short, the eyes are bright yellow and the feathered toes are brownish pink. The species occurs in two color morphs, namely a gray-brown and a red-brown. The underside of the body has fine, dark vertical stripes and is also finely dark and whitish speckled. The face veil is reddish brown; a dark border is missing. The beak is greenish-olive.
The doodle screech owl can be confused with several species. The Guatemala Screech Owl is very similar to it, but is less dense on the underside of the body and also differs in its call repertoire. The Tumbes screech owl has a dark skull and lives in more arid habitats than the scribble screech owl. The Choliba screech owl has dense stripes across and lengthways on the underside of the body.
distribution and habitat
The distribution area of the doodle screech owl is Costa Rica, Panama and the extreme northwest of Colombia. She is a resident. Their habitat are dense, moist rainforests with a rich epiphyte growth.
Way of life
The doodle screech owl resembles other screech owls in their way of life. It is an exclusively nocturnal species of owl whose food spectrum presumably consists mainly of insects. It is also likely to beat small vertebrates. It breeds in tree hollows. Otherwise nothing is known about their way of life.
supporting documents
Single receipts
literature
- Claus König , Friedhelm Weick: Owls of the World . Christopher Helm, London 2008, ISBN 978-0-7136-6548-2