Western Screech Owl, Megascops kennicottii

Western Screech Owl, Megascops kennicottii. Photograph of bird with one eye missing, residing in captivity at the Wild Animal Park, San Diego, California, December 2019. Photograph courtesy of Dr. Tom Bartol, Carlsbad, California.

Western Screech Owl, Megascops kennicottii. Photograph taken in the greater Santa Barbara area, Santa Barbara, California, September 2021. Photograph courtesy of Dr. Tom Bartol, Carlsbad, California.

Western Screech Owl, Megascops kennicottii. Photograph taken within a residential community in Hereford, Arizona, June 2021. Photograph and identification courtesy of Karen LeMay, Siera Vista, Arizona (naturewideimages.com).

The Western Screech Owl, Megascops kennicottii, is a member of the Strigidae Family of Owls. They are mid-sized in stature. In Mexico they are found in the coastal regions within the Pacific Slope within the states of Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sinaloa, Sonora, northern Sinaloa and in the central highlands in the States of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Jalisco, Michoacán, and Puebla at elevations up to 1,800 m (6,000 feet). From a conservation perspective the Western Screech Owl is currently considered to be of Least Concern. They are found in a wide variety of wooded and semi-open habitats in desert mesquites, farm groves, shade trees and wooded canyons. They are dusk and night time predators, with exceptional eyesight and hearing, that consume small mammals, supplemented by a wide variety of amphibians, birds, fish, and invertebrates. They take shelter during daylight hours.