Bare-shanked screech owl facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Bare-shanked screech owl |
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| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Megascops
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| Species: |
clarkii
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| Synonyms | |
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Otus clarkii Kelso & Kelso, 1935 |
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The bare-shanked screech owl (Megascops clarkii) is a type of owl that lives in forests. It is a large owl that hunts for food at night. These owls often stay together in family groups, even when they are raising their young. You can find this owl only in Costa Rica, Panama, and the far northwestern part of Colombia. It mostly eats large insects, shrews, and small rodents.
What Does It Look Like?
This owl is about 23 to 25 centimeters (9-10 inches) long. It weighs between 123 and 190 grams (4-7 ounces). Its back and wings are reddish-brown. They have black spots and wavy lines. A yellowish patch is on its neck. Its shoulders have a white band with black edges.
Its flight feathers show cinnamon bars. The tail has light and dark stripes. The owl's underside is pale brown with hints of tan and yellow. Its upper chest is partly white. The lower chest and stomach have dusky reddish-brown bars or black streaks.
The owl's face is yellowish-brown. It has a dark ruff, which is a ring of feathers around its face. Its eyes are yellow. The beak is either greenish-grey or bluish-grey. The owl's thighs are mostly yellow. Its lower legs are bare, meaning they have no feathers. Its yellowish-pink toes have dark claws.
Baby owls, called chicks, are whitish. Young owls, called fledglings, are cinnamon-colored. They have white speckles and dusky bars. Fledglings are also dull-yellowish underneath with yellowish-brown bars. This owl is larger than most other Megascops owls. Other Megascops owls are usually found at lower elevations. The vermiculated screech owl looks similar to this owl. Sometimes, both owls live in the same areas.
Owl Calls
The bare-shanked screech owl makes short, low-pitched whistles. These whistles are steady. The second or third notes are usually the loudest. Female owls make calls that are higher in pitch than the males.
Where Does It Live?
This owl lives in mountain forests that are thick and humid. It also lives at the edges of forests and in cloud forests. These areas are usually high up, from about 900 to 2,300 meters (3,000 to 7,600 feet) above sea level. Sometimes, they can be found even higher, almost 3,350 meters (11,000 feet) high.
Even though the owl can sometimes be found in thinner forests, it still needs areas with patches of dense trees. The bare-shanked screech owl lives only in Costa Rica, Panama, and the far northwestern part of Colombia. In Costa Rica, you might find it in the Monteverde Biological Reserve and Volcán Poás National Park.
Scientists have not studied this owl very much. Its conservation status was unknown in 2017. However, the IUCN Red List now lists it as "least concern." This means it is not currently at high risk of disappearing.
Family Life and Food
Bare-shanked screech owls often live in family groups. They stay together even during the breeding season. So far, their nesting habits have only been studied once. That nest was found inside a hollow in an oak tree.
These owls lay their eggs from mid-February through May. Young owls, called fledglings, can be seen from May to August. The owl hunts at night. It looks for food along the edges of forests, in clearings, or high up in the tree canopies. It mostly eats large insects, shrews, and small rodents.
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