Bare-shanked Screech Owl

Facts about Bare-shanked Screech Owl. The Bare-shanked Screech Owl is a variety of owl that comes from the genus Megascops of the Strigidae family. "Scientific name for Bare-shanked Screech Owl is Megascops clarkia". Bare-shanked Screech Owl can be largely seen in Costa Rica, Colombia, and Panama. Bare-shanked Screech Owls prefer to live in tropical or subtropical damp montane forests. The Bare-shanked Screech Owl breed also lives in humid thick mountain forests, woodland edges and cloud forests at an altitude that ranges from 3,000 feet to 7,600 feet (909 meters to 2303 meters). Occasionally, the Bare-shanked Screech Owls can also be seen in thinner upland wooded areas, but they need at least patchy woodland. The Bare-shanked Screech Owls are habitually found in family-sized clusters, even during breeding season when the female owl is still laying.

Features of Bare-shanked Screech Owl

The Bare-shanked Screech Owl is a big size bird that has a body length of 10 inches (25 cm). This owl breed is small and agile and it is one among the heaviest breed in its genus with a body mass of 180 grams (0.2 kg). Usually, female Bare-shanked Screech Owls are bigger and fatter than the males and both genders of this owl breed are compact in shape, size, and height.

The Bare-shanked Screech Owl has a proportionately big head, tiny ear tufts, with yellow colored iris and a gray color bill. The facial disc of this owl breed is cinnamon with a badly defined, somewhat darker facial border, head and throat. The Bare-shanked Screech Owl has darker black color markings on its upper torso and throat, paler cinnamon color middle or lower torso and abdomen with buff white irregular spots. The Bare-shanked Screech Owl has a rusty-brown color back body.

The Bare-shanked Screech Owl usually constructs its nest in a natural hole in an oak tree. The female owl will start laying eggs from mid February up to May. Actually, once these owls set up a home base, while juvenile owls are encouraged to locate new territory at all times, they seldom venture out far from their home.

The primary song of the Bare-shanked Screech Owl breed is a deep one, which will be repeated at intervals of every one or two seconds. It also makes a deep whistle, and the third and the fourth notes are the most daring and may be all that is perceptible at a distance. The female Bare-shanked Screech Owl has a somewhat higher pitched call and an extra call described as quite high musical hooting.

Even though the Bare-shanked Screech Owl is considered rare in its range, it can be seen in quite a lot of secluded areas of Costa Rica, as well as in the Volcan Poas National Park and Monteverde Biological Reserve, together with the Darién Highlands and Panama Highlands. The Bare-shanked Screech Owl is a local owl and there are no recognized movements, except Juvenal dispersals. The Bare-shanked Screech Owl breed is not considered globally endangered even though due to its restricted range, lack of general population estimates, and loss of home.

Diet of Bare-shanked Screech Owl

The Bare-Shanked Screech Owl is a nocturnal bird, but occasionally, it can also be seen at dusk, looking for the prey along woodland edges, in the canopy, or in clearings. The Bare-shanked Screech Owl mostly feeds on big insects, like crickets, beetles and grasshoppers, together with some small rodents and shrews.