West screech owl

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West screech owl
West screech owl

West screech owl

Systematics
Class : Birds (aves)
Order : Owls (Strigiformes)
Family : Real owls (Strigidae)
Genre : Screech owls ( megascops )
Type : West screech owl
Scientific name
Megascops kennicottii
( Elliot , 1867)

The Western Screech Owl ( Megascops kennicottii ) is a species from the family of real owls. It occurs in eight subspecies exclusively in North and Central America. Together with the eastern screech owl , it occurs furthest north within the genus of screech owls.

Appearance

With a body size of about 23 centimeters, the western screech owl is a medium-sized species within its genus. It occurs in a gray and - much more rarely - in a brown color morph. It has short, pointed feather ears and a gray-brown face veil . The underside of the body is slightly lighter than the upper side and has dark, wide vertical stripes and some horizontal stripes. The legs are feathered down to the toes. The beak is blackish.

There is a possibility of confusion with the Eastern Screech Owl, which however has a greenish beak and in which the red-brown color morph is much more common. The spotted screech owl , with whose distribution area there is overlap in Mexico, is significantly smaller.

distribution and habitat

The range of the western screech owl runs west of the Rocky Mountains from northern Canada and Alaska to central Mexico. The eastern limit of distribution is not entirely clear. Possibly their range overlaps in the east with that of the Eastern Screech Owl. In the north of its range, it is a partial migrant that moves further south in the winter half-year. However, most of the population's western screech owls are resident birds.

Their habitat is arid to semi-humid forest areas. She particularly prefers pine and oak forests. It also occurs in regions with only a loose tree population and also colonizes semi-deserts with large cacti. It has also opened up the human settlement area and occurs in the gardens and parks of suburbs.

Way of life

The western screech owl is a nocturnal species of owl. It usually becomes active twenty to thirty minutes after sunset. Their food spectrum is mainly insects, but also small vertebrates such as mammals, birds, frogs and reptiles. Occasionally, the prey is larger than the owl. Small mammals play an important role in the diet of the Western Screech Owl, especially in winter. During this time she also sets up food depots.

The breeding season begins as early as late February, when the males can be heard singing at dusk. Tree holes are usually chosen as a nesting opportunity. The clutch consists of three to seven eggs. Only the female breeds, who takes up the breeding business with the laying of the first egg. The young hatch accordingly asynchronously. They leave the nest around four weeks old, but are looked after by the parent birds for another five to six weeks.

Subspecies

There are nine known subspecies:

  • Megascops kennicottii kennicottii ( Elliot, DG , 1867) occurs from southeastern Alaska to northwestern California .
  • Megascops kennicottii macfarlanei Brewster , 1891 is distributed from southeastern British Columbia to northeastern California and Wyoming .
  • Megascops kennicottii bendirei ( Brewster , 1882) occurs from southern central Oregon to northern Baja California .
  • Megascops kennicottii aikeni Brewster , 1891 is distributed from west Texas west to Colorado , Utah , Nevada and east California.
  • Megascops kennicottii cardonensis ( Huey , 1926) occurs in northeastern Baja California.
  • Megascops kennicottii xantusi Brewster , 1902 is widespread in southern Baja California.
  • Megascops kennicottii yumanensis ( Miller, AH & Miller, L , 1951) is in southeast California, southwest Arizona and northwestern Sonora spread
  • Megascops kennicottii vinaceus Brewster , 1888 occurs in the south of Sonora to Sinaloa .
  • Megascops kennicottii suttoni ( Moore, RT , 1941) is widespread from southwest Texas (USA) to the central Mexican plateau.

supporting documents

Single receipts

  1. ↑ König et al., P. 282
  2. ↑ a b König et al., P. 283
  3. ^ IOC World Bird List Owls
  4. ^ Daniel Giraud Elliot, p. 99.
  5. ^ William Brewster (1891), p. 140.
  6. ^ William Brewster (1882), p. 31.
  7. ^ William Brewster (1891), p. 139.
  8. ↑ Laurence Markham Huey, p. 360.
  9. ^ William Brewster (1902), p. 93.
  10. ↑ Alden Holmes Miller et al. a. P. 172.
  11. ^ William Brewster (1888), p. 88.
  12. ^ Robert Thomas Moore, p. 154.

literature

  • Claus König , Friedhelm Weick: Owls of the World . Christopher Helm, London 2008, ISBN 978-0-7136-6548-2
  • Daniel Giraud Elliot: Description of an Apparently New Species of Owl, of the Genus Scops . In: Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia . tape 19 , 1863, p. 99-100 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
  • William Brewster: On Kennicott's Owl and some of its allies, with a description of a proposed new race . In: Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological Club . tape 7 , no. 1 , 1882, p. 27-33 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
  • William Brewster: Descriptions of Supposed New Birds from Lower California, Sonora, and Chihuahua, Mexico, and the Bahamas . In: The Auk . tape 5 , no. 1 , 1888, p. 82–95 ( sora.unm.edu [PDF; 697 kB ]).
  • William Brewster: Descriptions of Seven Supposed New North American Birds . In: The Auk . tape 8 , no. 2 , 1891, p. 139–149 ( sora.unm.edu [PDF; 522 kB ]).
  • William Brewster: Birds of the Cape Region of Lower California . In: Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoölogy at Harvard College . tape 41 , no. 1 , 1902, pp. 1-242 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
  • Robert Thomas Moore: Three new races in the genus Otus from central Mexico . In: Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington . tape 54 , 1941, pp. 151-159 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
  • Laurence Markham Huey: Notes from Northwestern Lower California, with the Description of an Apparently New Race of the Screech Owl . In: The Auk . tape 43 , no. 3 , 1926, pp. 347–362 ( sora.unm.edu [PDF; 900 kB ]).
  • Alden Holmes Miller, Loye Miller: Geographic Variation of the Screech Owls of the Deserts of Western North America . In: The Condor . tape 53 , no. 4 , 1951, pp. 161–177 ( sora.unm.edu [PDF; 1,4 MB ]).

Web links

Commons : Western Screech Owl ( Megascops kennicottii )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files