Middle American Screech Owl, Megascops guatemalae

Middle American Screech Owl, Megascops guatemalae vermiculatus. Photographs taken within the Tikal National Park, Tikal, Guatemala, March 1991. Photographs and identifications courtesy of Bob Behrstock, Sierra Vista, Arizona (naturewideimages.com).

The Middle American Screech Owl, Megascops guatemalae vermiculatus, is one of seven subspecies of Middle American Screech Owl, of which four are found in Mexico. They are member of the Strigidae Family of True Owls, that has two hundred twenty-five members placed in twenty-six genera, and one of twenty-two global members of the Megascops Genus. They are known also known as the Vermiculated Screech Owl and in Mexico as tecolote sapo.

The Middle American Screech Owl is small in stature. They occur in both brown and rufous morphs. The brown morph has a light brown face that is lightly barred in white with a thin border, then white eyebrows, dark ear tufts, a heavily spotted and black barred crown with dark gray-brown to blackish-brown upperparts and a barred tail. There bill is green, their iris is yellow, and their legs and toes are dusky. The rufous morph is less boldly patterned.

The Middle American Screech Owl around in Mexico in humid lowland to semi-arid evergreen forests, semi-deciduous forests and in thorn forests as-well-as scrubby woodlands and plantations at elevations up to 1,500 meters (4,920 feet). They are non-migratory. They are nocturnal predators, with exceptional eyesight and hearing, that hunt from a perch, swooping on ground prey or insects in flight that consume large insects including beetles, katydids, and orthopterans. They supplement their diets with fish, frogs, reptiles, and small rodents. They take shelter during daylight hours. They are known for their calls shortly after dusk and can be seen perched at relatively low levels in dense vegetation. They nest in cavities in trees that have been excavated by woodpeckers.

In Mexico there are five subspecies of the Middle American Screech Owl found in Mexico: the cassini subspecies, found in eastern Mexico from southern Tamaulipas and southeastern San Luis Potosi and Northern Veracruz; the fuscus subspecies found in central Veracruz; the guatemalae subspecies that is found in southern Veracruz and northeastern Oaxaca south to Honduras; the hastatus subspecies, found in western Mexico from southeastern Sonora to Oaxaca; and, the thompsoni subspecies found on the Yucatan Peninsula and Cozumel Island. The vermiculatus subspecies, photograph above, is a resident of Costa Rica and western Panama.

From a conservation perspective the Middle American Screech Owl is currently considered to be of Least Concern, however their populations are believed to be in decline due to forest destruction and human development resulting in habitat destruction.