Whiskered Screech-Owl

The Whiskered Screech-Owl occupies montane oak and pine-oak woodland from the mountains of southeastern Arizona and New Mexico south through Mexico into Central America, often overlapping in range with the Western Screech-Owl at similar elevations.

It is slightly smaller than its relatives and extremely similar in plumage, making voice the primary field mark used to separate it from co-occurring screech-owls.

Its feathers follow the same finely mottled, bark-camouflaged pattern typical of the genus, scaled to its smaller overall size.

Recognizing the feathers

• Body feathers are grey-brown with fine mottling and streaking, essentially identical in pattern to Western and Eastern Screech-Owls but on a smaller frame.
• Ear-tuft feathers are short and present, as in related species.
• Flight feathers are small and soft-fringed.
• Overall smaller feather dimensions compared to Western Screech-Owl reflect this species' slightly smaller body size.

Similar species

• Virtually indistinguishable from Western Screech-Owl by plumage alone in areas of overlap; smaller average size and montane oak/pine-oak habitat are supporting clues, but voice remains the most reliable field distinction.

Plumage

Adults are grey-brown with fine mottling and streaking, closely matching the general screech-owl pattern. Sexes look alike.

Juveniles show softer, more diffuse patterning before molting into adult plumage.

Molt is gradual, occurring over the warmer months.

Habitat & range

Found in montane oak and pine-oak woodland from the mountains of southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico south through the highlands of Mexico into Central America.

Largely non-migratory, with some populations shifting slightly in elevation seasonally.

Behavior & field notes

Hunts insects and other small prey nocturnally from perches within oak and pine-oak woodland.

Its call is a distinctive irregular, Morse-code-like series of hoots, different from the more even-paced calls of Western Screech-Owl, and is the most reliable way to confirm this species where ranges overlap.

A small, grey-brown mottled body feather found in montane oak or pine-oak woodland in the species' range is consistent with this species, though plumage alone cannot rule out Western Screech-Owl in overlap zones.