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Information about Scops Owl

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Scops owls
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Western Screech Owl
Otus kennicottii

Western Screech Owl
Otus kennicottii
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves
Order:Strigiformes
Family:Strigidae
Genus:Otus
Pennant, 1769
Species


Around 65, see text.
Synonyms
Scops owls belong to the genus Otus of owls. 65 living species are known, with frequent discoveries of other new species.

Size and appearance

Female Scops owls are usually larger than the males of their species, with owls of both genders being compact in size and shape. The Flammulated Owl Otus flameolus and the Eastern Screech Owl Otus asio are two of the smallest species of owls in North America (BONA, 369). All of the birds in this genus are small and agile. Scops owls are generally gray, brown, and sometimes red in color, which helps to camouflage them against the bark of trees.

Food and foraging habits

Scops owls hunt from perches in semi-open landscapes. They prefer areas which contain old trees with hollows; these are home to their prey which includes insects, reptiles, small mammals such as bats and mice and other small birds. The owls will also eat earthworms, amphibians and aquatic invertegrates (Marchesi and Seergio, 1). Scops owls have a good sense of hearing which helps them locate their prey in any habitat. They also posess well-developed raptorial claws and a curved bill, both of which are used for ripping flesh (FDC). Screech owls usually carry their prey back to their nests, presumably to guard against the chance of losing their meal to a larger raptor.

Social structure and mating habits

Scops owls are primarily solitary birds. During the late-winter breeding season, however, male screech owls will make nests to try to attract females. The female selects based on the quality of the cavity and the food located inside. Most owls in the "Otus genus lay and incubate their eggs in a cavity nest which was previously made by another animal. The birds are monogamous, with biparental care. During the incubation period, the male will feed the female (FDC).

This genus only fledges one young per year. The young of most of the birds in this genus are altricial to semialtricial (TBH, 296-298).

Systematics

It is often believed that all Scops owls evolved from tropical North American stock. Screech owl fossils from the Late Pliocene of Kansas - which are almost identical to Eastern and Western Screech Owls - indicate a long-standing presence of these birds in the Americas. There are no known fossils which can be attributed to ancient members of this genus, which probably evolved at some time during the Miocene (like most other genera of typical owls). The North American fossils do not definitively prove a North American origin.

In addition, the genus Otus also has a different placement of the procoracoid (less of an anterior incline) and coracoid bones compared to other "New World owls" (Ford, 472). An alternative view is that the Scops owls evolved from Asian stock (Johnson,1); this is tentatively supported by cytochrome b sequence data (Heidrich et al. 1995).

The 2003 revision to the AOU checklist places most of the New World members of this genus in Megascops Kaup, 1848. See ITIS entry. However, the Flammulated Owl is excluded [1]. No fossil "Otus" are presently known, apart from the fossils mentioned above, which are very close to (and may actually belong to) still-living species. Several species of extinct owls have been placed in the present genus in error:
  • The supposed fossil Late Eocene/Early Oligocene scops owl "Otus" henrici has been recognized as a member of the fossil barn-owl genus Selenornis;
  • The Early or Middle Miocene "Otus" wintershofensisis closer to Ninox. "Otus" providentiae is now recognized as a burrowing owl, probably a paleosubspecies;
  • "Scops" (= Otus) commersoni is a junior synonym of the Mauritius Owl, referring to pictures and descriptions which mention ear tufts; the fossil material of this species had been erroneously assigned to tuftless owls;

References

  • Alsop, Fred J. (2001). Birds of North America (BONA), Eastern region. Smithsonian Handbooks. 
  • Dewey, Tanya, and Stephen McDonald (2006). Otus asio. Animal Diversity Web.
  • Marchesi, Luigi, and Fabrizio Sergio, 2005. Distribution, density, diet and productivity of the Scops Owl Otus scops in the Italian Alps.
  • Ehrlich, Paul R., David S. Dobkin, and Darryle Wheye, 1988. The Birder's Handbook (TBH). A Field Guide to the Natural History of North American Birds.
  • Fifth Day Creations (FDC), 2000. Birding ID Library: Eastern Screech Owls. http://www.fifthdaycreations.com/article/screech.asp
  • Ford, Norman L., 1966. Fossil Owls From the Rexroad Fauna of the Upper Pliocene in Kansas. The Condor, 68: 472-475.
  • Heidrich, P., König, C. and M. Wink: Molecular phylogeny of the South American Otus atricapillus complex (Aves Strigidae) inferred from nucleotide sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene. Z. Naturforsch. 50c, 294-302, 1995
  • Johnson, David, 2003. Owls in the Fossil Record. The owl pages. http://www.owlpages.com/articles.php?section=Studies+and+Papers&title=Fossils

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M. kennicottii

Binomial name
Megascops kennicottii
(Elliot, 1867)

The Western Screech Owl, Megascops kennicottii, is a small owl.
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Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. Scientific classification also can be called scientific taxonomy, but should be distinguished from folk taxonomy, which lacks scientific basis.
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Chordata
Bateson, 1885

Typical Classes

See below

Chordates (phylum Chordata) are a group of animals that includes the vertebrates, together with several closely related invertebrates.
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Aves
Linnaeus, 1758

Orders

About two dozen - see section below

Birds (class Aves) are bipedal, warm-blooded, egg-laying vertebrate animals.
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Strigiformes
Wagler, 1830

Families

Strigidae
Tytonidae
Ogygoptyngidae (fossil)
Palaeoglaucidae (fossil)
Protostrigidae (fossil)
Sophiornithidae (fossil)
Synonyms

Strigidae sensu Sibley & Ahlquist Owls
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Strigidae
Vigors, 1825

Genera

some 25, see text
Synonyms

Striginae sensu Sibley & Ahlquist

True owls (family Strigidae) are one of the two generally accepted families of owls, the other being the barn owls (Tytonidae).
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Thomas Pennant (June 14, 1726 - December 16, 1798) was a Welsh naturalist and antiquary.

The Pennants were a Welsh gentry family from the parish of Whitford, Flintshire, who had built up a modest estate at Bychton by the seventeenth century.
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8th century - 9th century - 10th century
850s  860s  870s  - 880s -  890s  900s  910s
885 886 887 - 888 - 889 890 891

:
Subjects:     Archaeology - Architecture -
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species is one of the basic units of biological classification. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring.
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In scientific nomenclature, synonyms are different scientific names used for a single taxon. Usage and terminology are different for zoology and botany.

Zoology

In zoological nomenclature, synonyms are different scientific names that pertain to the same taxon, for example
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Marie Jules César Lelorgne de Savigny (April 5, 1777 - October 5, 1851) was a French zoologist.

Savigny was born at Provins. In 1798 he travelled to Egypt as part of the French scientific expedition to that country, and contributed to the publication of the findings of the
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18th century - 19th century - 20th century
1770s  1780s  1790s  - 1800s -  1810s  1820s  1830s
1806 1807 1808 - 1809 - 1810 1811 1812

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8th century - 9th century - 10th century
850s  860s  870s  - 880s -  890s  900s  910s
885 886 887 - 888 - 889 890 891

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Morten Thrane Brünnich (September 30, 1737 - September 19, 1827) was a Danish zoologist and mineralogist.

Brünnich was born in Copenhagen, the son of a portrait painter. He studied oriental languages and theology, but soon became interested in natural history.
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8th century - 9th century - 10th century
850s  860s  870s  - 880s -  890s  900s  910s
885 886 887 - 888 - 889 890 891

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Lorenz Oken (August 1, 1779 – August 11, 1851), was a German naturalist. His real name was Lorenz Okenfuss.

He was born in Bohlsbach in Swabia and studied natural history and medicine at the University of Würzburg.
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18th century - 19th century - 20th century
1780s  1790s  1800s  - 1810s -  1820s  1830s  1840s
1814 1815 1816 - 1817 - 1818 1819 1820

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Mathurin Jacques Brisson (April 30, 1723 – June 23, 1806) was a French zoologist and natural philosopher.

Brisson was born at Fontenay-le-Comte. The earlier part of his life was spent in the pursuit of natural history, his published works in this department including
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17th century - 18th century - 19th century
1730s  1740s  1750s  - 1760s -  1770s  1780s  1790s
1757 1758 1759 - 1760 - 1761 1762 1763

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Strigidae
Vigors, 1825

Genera

some 25, see text
Synonyms

Striginae sensu Sibley & Ahlquist

True owls (family Strigidae) are one of the two generally accepted families of owls, the other being the barn owls (Tytonidae).
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species is one of the basic units of biological classification. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring.
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O. flammeolus

Binomial name
Otus flammeolus
Kaup, 1853

The Flammulated Owl (Otus flammeolus
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M. asio

Binomial name
Megascops asio
(Linnaeus, 1758)

The Eastern Screech Owl (Megascops asio) is a small owl.
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Insecta
Linnaeus, 1758

Orders
Subclass Apterygota
* Archaeognatha (bristletails)
* Thysanura (silverfish)
Subclass Pterygota
* Infraclass Paleoptera (Probably paraphyletic)

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Sauropsida*
Goodrich, 1916

Subclasses
  • Anapsida
  • Diapsida
Synonyms
  • Reptilia Laurenti, 1768
Reptiles are tetrapods and amniotes, animals whose embryos are surrounded by an amniotic membrane, and members of the class
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Mammalia
Linnaeus, 1758

Subclasses & Infraclasses
  • Subclass †Allotheria*
  • Subclass Prototheria
  • Subclass Theria

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Amphibia
Linnaeus, 1758

Subclasses and Orders

   Order Temnospondyli - extinct
Subclass Lepospondyli - extinct
Subclass Lissamphibia
   Order Anura
   Order Caudata
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