Balsas Screech-Owl
Megascops seductus
Medium-sized owl (but large for a screech-owl) with short ear tufts and brownish (not yellow) eyes. Fairly common in scrubby woodland, thorn forest, and edge of interior southwest Mexico where it is endemic. Sometimes seen hunting beside quiet roads. Usually detected by its gruff, bouncing ball song. Mottled Owl occurs in same areas but is slightly larger, with a rounded head and thicker dark streaks below.
Identification
The Balsas screech owl is among the larger members of genus Megascops; it is 24 to 27 cm (9.4 to 10.6 in) long and weighs between 150 and 174 g (5.3 and 6.1 oz). Its facial disc is grayish brown with brownish markings and a darker border. Its "ear" tufts are short. The crown and upperparts are also grayish brown; the crown has darker streaks and the upperparts have a pinkish blush and dark streaks and other marks. The closed wing shows two bands of whitish spots. The underparts are paler than the upperparts and have narrow dark streaks and faint vermiculation.
Taxonomy
The Balsas screech owl is monotypic.
- Scientific name
- Megascops seductus
- Authority
- (Moore, RT, 1941)
- Order
- Strigiformes
- Family
- Strigidae
- Genus
- Megascops
Range and habitat
The Balsas screech owl is endemic to interior southwestern Mexico. Its range is centered on the valley of the Balsas River from southern Jalisco southeast into central Guerrero. It inhabits arid open and semi-open areas such as deciduous woodland with cactus, thorn forest, and secondary forest. It can also be found in tropical scrublands and the edges of cultivated areas. In elevation it ranges from 600 to 1,500 m (2,000 to 4,900 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Like most other screech owls, the Basas screech owl is nocturnal. Its hunting methods have not been described, but its diet apparently includes insects, other arthropods, and small vertebrates.<p>Very little is known about the Balsas screech owl's breeding phenology. It is assumed to nest in cavities in trees and cacti like others of its genus.<p>Both sexes of the Balsas screech owl perform a territorial song described as "a rather loud series of gruff notes accelerating to a trill ('bouncing-ball' rhythm), book-book-bokbokbobobobrrrrr". A possible courtship song is "a series of gruff, screaming 'whinny' trills".
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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