Tawny-bellied Screech-Owl Megascops watsonii Scientific name definitions

Fairly common throughout its large range, Tawny-bellied Screech-Owl inhabits the interior of humid lowland forest. There, they are the most common screech-owl, as Tropical Screech-Owl (Megascops choliba) favors edges and second growth. Strictly nocturnal, Tawny-bellied Screech-Owls generally stay in thick lower vegetation, making it often difficult to view. They occur in red, brown, and gray morphs. The red and brown morphs are distinctly dark overall, but all morphs share the distinguishing long ear-tufts, dark facial disk, and dark eyebrows. Compared to Tropical Screech-Owl, Tawny-bellied is darker overall, and the darker eyebrows are a good field mark. Their song is a long series of rapidly-delivered hoots on a steady pitch. The pace of the song is faster in northern Amazonia, leading to speculation that the Tawny-bellied Screech-Owl may include two distinct species, very similar in appearance but differing in vocalizations.

19–24 cm; c. 114–155 g (nominate), 115–141 g (usta) (1 König, C., F. Weick, and J.-H. Becking (2008). Owls of the World. Second Edition. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Facial disc and eyebrows brown-buff, with faint blackish vermiculations and thin dark border; longish, broad ear tufts with black outer webs and tips; crown and upperparts  dark grey-brown, spotted and vermiculated with black and buff, hint of buff on hindneck; scapular spots indistinct or lacking; flight-feathers and tail barred brown and light buff; breast  dark brown with small buff spots; rest of underparts buff, streaked with black, with obscure white barring on belly; tarsus fully feathered buff; irides amber-yellow to brownish-orange (nominate) or warm brown (usta) (1 König, C., F. Weick, and J.-H. Becking (2008). Owls of the World. Second Edition. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ); cere and bill greenish-grey (nominate) or yellowish-brown with greenish suffusion (usta) (1 König, C., F. Weick, and J.-H. Becking (2008). Owls of the World. Second Edition. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ); toes pale ochre-brown (nominate) or greyish-yellow to brownish (usta) (1 König, C., F. Weick, and J.-H. Becking (2008). Owls of the World. Second Edition. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Juvenile undescribed. Race <em>usta</em> similar in pattern, but slightly smaller, rufous overall, broader streaks below; also occurs in browner and buffer morphs.

Editor's Note: This article requires further editing work to merge existing content into the appropriate Subspecies sections. Please bear with us while this update takes place.

Suggested as belonging to the putative M. atricapilla species-group (see that species, below), but large overlap in range with M. vermiculatus. From vocal evidence and DNA-sequencing appears closest to M. atricapilla, and has even been treated as conspecific; more distantly related to M. choliba than previously thought. Race usta has been treated as a separate species (1 König, C., F. Weick, and J.-H. Becking (2008). Owls of the World. Second Edition. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close , 2 Mikkola, H. (2014). Owls of the World. A Photographic Guide. 2nd edition. Firefly Books, Buffalo, NY, USA. Close ); compared with nominate, however, differences in morphology appear to be minimal and vocal dissimilarities, although seemingly great, perhaps not constant, and convergent where the two converge geographically (3 Mikkola, H. (2012). Owls of the World. A Photographic Guide. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ); confirmation of reported differences in plumage and in eye colour (4 SACC (2001). Proposal (#10) to South American Classification Committee: Continue to retain usta as a subspecies of Otus watsonii. URL: http://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCprop10.htm (download Jan 2014). Close ) needed, and further study and analysis of vocalizations required (two song types exist, but whether variation clinal or not is not known (4 SACC (2001). Proposal (#10) to South American Classification Committee: Continue to retain usta as a subspecies of Otus watsonii. URL: http://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCprop10.htm (download Jan 2014). Close ) ), in order to clarify distinctiveness of taxa. Two subspecies recognized.

Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Interior of lowland rainforest, especially old-growth primary forest and mature second growth; occasionally in clearings or at forest edge; usta also inhabits remnant forest along rivers and forest fragments near human settlements (5 Rodrigues de Souza, I. and Guilherme, E. (2013). First record of nesting behavior in the Austral Screech-Owl (Megascops usta) in an urban forest fragment in eastern Acre, Brazil. Atualidades Ornitológicas. 173: 22. Close ). Frequents lower storey of forest, usually found no more than 30 m above ground, often descending into undergrowth. Generally occurs at elevations not exceeding 600–700 m (6 Schulenberg, T. S., D. F. Stotz, D. F. Lane, J. P. O’Neill, and T. A. Parker (2007). Birds of Peru. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, USA. Close , 1 König, C., F. Weick, and J.-H. Becking (2008). Owls of the World. Second Edition. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

Presumably resident (1 König, C., F. Weick, and J.-H. Becking (2008). Owls of the World. Second Edition. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

Very little information. Said to feed mostly insects; probably also terrestrial vertebrates (1 König, C., F. Weick, and J.-H. Becking (2008). Owls of the World. Second Edition. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Forages in the lower levels.

Primary song of nominate race a long series of rapid notes  , becoming faster and louder, then fading with low trill, phrase c. 20 seconds long; secondary song brief series of short “wu” notes. Primary song of usta  similar but slower, c. 2 notes per second; secondary song thought to be fast series of “bu” notes, slowing to “bouncing” rhythm at end.

Poorly known. A nest in E Acre, Brazil, found 9 Sept 2010, was in hole in a dead palm (Bactris gasipaes) c. 2 m above the ground, and contained a 2-day-old chick (5 Rodrigues de Souza, I. and Guilherme, E. (2013). First record of nesting behavior in the Austral Screech-Owl (Megascops usta) in an urban forest fragment in eastern Acre, Brazil. Atualidades Ornitológicas. 173: 22. Close ); one photographed in Peru contained 2 eggs (7 Londoño, G. A. (2014). Parque Nacional del Manu, Cusco, Perú: Anidación de Aves en un Gradiente Altitudinal. Rapid Color Guide 514 versión 1. The Field Museum, Chicago, IL, USA. Close ).

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). CITES II. Status uncertain, and species poorly known, with no estimates of global poulation size or population trends. Reported to be fairly common and widespread in E Peru (6 Schulenberg, T. S., D. F. Stotz, D. F. Lane, J. P. O’Neill, and T. A. Parker (2007). Birds of Peru. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, USA. Close ), and widespread in E Ecuador (8 Ridgely, R. S., and P. J. Greenfield (2001). The Birds of Ecuador. Volumes 1–2. Comstock Publishing Associates, Ithaca, New York, USA. Close ). Since it seems to be restricted to forest, the major threat to its survival must surely be destruction of its habitat. Nominate race occurs in several protected areas, such as Amacayacu National Park in Leticia, Colombia, and Imataca Forest Reserve in Bolívar, Venezuela. Conservation status in need of revision.