Pacific Screech-Owl
Megascops cooperi
Medium-sized owl with short ear tufts and yellow eyes. Plumage much like other screech-owls, but relatively pale and grayish overall. Fairly common in scrubby woodland and thorn forest along the edge of the Pacific Slope lowlands. Usually detected by its gruff, bouncing-ball song. No other screech-owls occur within its range and habitat.
Identification
The Pacific screech owl is a medium-sized member of Megascops and has prominent "ear" tufts and bright yellow eyes. The nominate subspecies is 23 to 26 cm (9.1 to 10.2 in) long and weighs 145 to 175 g (5.1 to 6.2 oz). Its facial disc is pale gray with a white and blackish border. Its crown and upperparts are a pale tawny gray with dusky and black vermiculation. Its closed wing shows two pale lines. It has paler off-white underparts with a darker herringbone pattern. M. c. lambi is 20 to 22 cm (7.9 to 8.7 in) long and weighs 115 to 130 g (4.1 to 4.6 oz). It is colored like the nominate with the addition of dark bars and streaks on the crown.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Megascops cooperi
- Authority
- (Ridgway, 1878)
- Order
- Strigiformes
- Family
- Strigidae
- Genus
- Megascops
Range and habitat
The more northern subspecies of Pacific screech owl, M. c. lambi, is found only on the Pacific slope of Oaxaca, Mexico. The nominate subspecies is found from eastern Oaxaca and Chiapas, Mexico, south along the Pacific slope through Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua into northwestern Costa Rica. In the southern part of its range it can also be found on the upper Caribbean slope.<p>The Pacific screech owl inhabits a wide variety of vegetation communities. They include swamp forest and mangroves, arid and semi-arid woodland and scrub, open country with scattered trees and cacti, and secondary forest. In elevation it ranges from sea level as high as 1,000 m (3,300 ft) in Oaxaca and 1,300 m (4,300 ft) in Costa Rica but is usually found much lower.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The Pacific screech owl is nocturnal and crepuscular. It hunts in clearings and the edges of woodland from a low perch and captures prey by pouncing or sallying. Its diet is mostly large insects but also includes other arthropods such as scorpions and small vertebrates like birds and flying squirrels.<p>The Pacific screech owl's breeding phenology is not well known. It is thought to breed in the dry season. The clutch of three or four eggs is laid in a tree cavity, often an old woodpecker hole.<p>The primary songs of the two Pacific screech owl subspecies differ. That of the nominate has been described as "prrr pu-pu-PU-PU-PU-pu-pu" and that of M. c. lambi a "staccato croarrr-gogogogogogok". Both have secondary songs as well.
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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Picathartes oreas
The gray ghost of central African forests, moving silently inside the forest on or near the ground, sometimes associating with driver ant swarms. Distinctive, with a gray back, pale underparts, and a bald blue, red, and black head. Breeds semi-colonially during the rainy season in caves, under large boulders, and even under road bridges. Rarely encountered away from nesting sites.
White-browed Wagtail
Motacilla maderaspatensis
A rather largish wagtail and the only resident amongst this group. It has black head, back, and upper tail, and white underparts. The broad white eyebrow that extends from the base of the bill to the back of its head is a characteristic. A broad white bar on the wing is visible when sitting and in flight. Female is usually duller black than the male, while immatures have a shorter eyebrow with black areas replaced by grayish-brown and have dirty white underparts. Very vocal; gives a loud 3–4 noted whistle and a “psi-sit” flight call. Mostly seen in pairs or family parties, near wet areas of any kind including small pools in lawns and buildings, running around wagging its tail and flying with a characteristic undulating flight.
White-bellied Woodpecker
Dryocopus javensis
Impressive large black woodpecker a white belly and pale eyes. Male has a bright red crest, whereas female has an all-dark one. Large size and mostly black plumage distinguishes this species from any other woodpecker in range. Gives a loud “kyick!” and a prolonged series of “keck” notes. Usually seen on or around tall dead trees both standing and fallen, either singly or in pairs.
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