Watson screech owl
| Watson screech owl | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Watson's Screech Owl ( Megascops watsonii ) |
||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Megascops watsonii | ||||||||||
| ( Cassin , 1848) |
The Watson screech owl ( Megascops watsonii ) is a species from the family of real owls. It occurs exclusively in South America.
Appearance
With a body size of about 19 to 23 centimeters, the Watson screech owl is a small to medium-sized species within its genus. It has a relatively dark plumage. The top of the body is gray-brown with small pale spots and spots. The front breast is brownish with one darker and one pale spot. The rest of the underside of the body is rust to sand-brown with thin, dark longitudinal and horizontal stripes. The eyes are amber to brown-orange.
Can be confused with the Usta screech owl , which is slightly larger and has a slightly reddish-brown plumage. The Choliba Screech Owl has yellow eyes. The cinnamon screech owl has reddish brown plumage throughout.
distribution and habitat
The Watson screech owl inhabits the lowlands from the east of Colombia to Venezuela, Suriname, the northeast of Ecuador and Peru, as well as the area north of the Amazon in Brazil. It is a resident bird that mainly uses rainforests up to an altitude of 600 meters.
Way of life
The Watson Screech Owl is exclusively nocturnal and occasionally lets out its calls before dusk. The food spectrum consists mainly of insects. But it probably also eats smaller vertebrates. The reproductive biology of this species has not yet been researched, but is probably similar to that of other screech owls.
supporting documents
Single receipts
literature
- Claus König , Friedhelm Weick: Owls of the World . Christopher Helm, London 2008, ISBN 978-0-7136-6548-2
Web links
- Megascops watsonii inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Listed by: BirdLife International, 2012. Retrieved September 7, 2013.