
Screech-Owls
Megascops
Screech owls or screech-owls are typical owls (Strigidae) belonging to the genus Megascops. Twenty-one living species are known at present, but new ones are frequently recognized and unknown ones are still being discovered on a regular basis, especially in the Andes. For most of the 20th century, this genus was merged with the Old World scops owls in Otus, but nowadays it is again considered separate based on a range of behavioral, biogeographical, morphological and DNA...
23 branches of this genus, most-observed first · about 22 known species

Eastern Screech-Owl
speciesMegascops asio

Western Screech-Owl
speciesMegascops kennicottii

Tropical Screech-Owl
speciesMegascops choliba

Pacific Screech-Owl
speciesMegascops cooperi

Whiskered Screech-Owl
speciesMegascops trichopsis

Middle American Screech-Owl
speciesMegascops guatemalae

Tawny-bellied Screech-Owl
speciesMegascops watsonii

Chocó Screech-Owl
speciesMegascops centralis

Bare-shanked Screech-Owl
speciesMegascops clarkii

Long-tufted Screech-Owl
speciesMegascops sanctaecatarinae

Black-capped Screech-Owl
speciesMegascops atricapilla

White-throated Screech-Owl
speciesMegascops albogularis

Rufescent Screech-Owl
speciesMegascops ingens

Santa Marta Screech-Owl
speciesMegascops gilesi

Balsas Screech-Owl
speciesMegascops seductus

Foothill Screech-Owl
speciesMegascops roraimae

Peruvian Screech-Owl
speciesMegascops roboratus

Koepcke's Screech-Owl
speciesMegascops koepckeae

Bearded Screech-Owl
speciesMegascops barbarus

Montane Forest Screech-Owl
speciesMegascops hoyi

Cinnamon Screech-Owl
speciesMegascops petersoni

Cloud-forest Screech-Owl
speciesMegascops marshalli
Megascops asio × kennicottii
hybridMegascops asio × kennicottii
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Megascops in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 19729.