The Balsas screech owl (''Megascops seductus'') is a species of

owl Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...

in the family

Strigidae The true owls or typical owls (family Strigidae) are one of the two generally accepted families of owls, the other being the barn owls (Tytonidae). This large family comprises 230 living or recently extinct species in 24 genera. The typical owl ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The Balsas screech owl is

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

Description

The Balsas screech owl is among the larger members of genus ''Megascops''; it is long and weighs between . Its

facial disc In ornithology, the facial disc is the concave collection of feathers on the face of some birds—most notably owls—surrounding the eyes. The concavity of the facial disc forms a circular paraboloid that collects sound waves and directs those ...

is grayish brown with brownish markings and a darker border. Its "ear" tufts are short. The crown and upperparts are also grayish brown; the crown has darker streaks and the upperparts have a pinkish blush and dark streaks and other marks. The closed wing shows two bands of whitish spots. The underparts are paler than the upperparts and have narrow dark streaks and faint

vermiculation Vermiculation is a surface pattern of dense but irregular lines, so called from the Latin ''vermiculus'' meaning "little worm" because the shapes resemble worms, worm-casts, or worm tracks in mud or wet sand. The word may be used in a number of ...

.Egan, S. (2020). Balsas Screech-Owl (''Megascops seductus''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.basowl.01 retrieved August 4, 2021

Distribution and habitat

The Balsas screech owl is endemic to interior southwestern Mexico. Its range is centered on the valley of the

Balsas River The Balsas River (Spanish Río Balsas, also locally known as the Mezcala River, or Atoyac River) is a major river of south-central Mexico. The basin flows through the states of Guerrero, México, Morelos, and Puebla. Downstream of Ciudad Al ...

from southern Jalisco southeast into central

Guerrero Guerrero is one of the 32 states that comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 81 municipalities and its capital city is Chilpancingo and its largest city is Acapulcocopied from article, GuerreroAs of 2020, Guerrero the pop ...

. It inhabits arid open and semi-open areas such as deciduous woodland with cactus, thorn forest, and secondary forest. It can also be found in tropical scrublands and the edges of cultivated areas. In elevation it ranges from .

Behavior

Feeding

Like most other screech owls, the Basas screech owl is nocturnal. Its hunting methods have not been described, but its diet apparently includes insects, other arthropods, and small vertebrates.

Breeding

Very little is known about the Balsas screech owl's breeding phenology. It is assumed to nest in cavities in trees and cacti like others of its genus.

Vocalization

Both sexes of the Balsas screech owl perform a territorial song described as "a rather loud series of gruff notes accelerating to a trill ('bouncing-ball' rhythm), ''book-book-bokbokbobobobrrrrr''". A possible courtship song is "a series of gruff, screaming 'whinny' trills".

Status

The IUCN has assessed the Balsas screech owl as being of Least Concern. Until 2014 it had been considered Near Threatened. However, its population is unknown and is suspected to be in decline due to habitat loss and degradation.

References

External links

Balsas Screech Owl photo gallery
VIREO {{Taxonbar, from=Q805536 Megascops Endemic birds of Mexico Birds described in 1941 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Balsas dry forests