The mottled owl (''Strix virgata'') is a medium-sized

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 ...

found in Central and South America from

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. The head and back are mottled brown and the underparts whitish, with vertical bars on the chest and throat. The eyes are dark and the head is round and they do not have ear tufts. They are territorial and found in dry forests and jungles at altitudes of up to above sea level.

Taxonomy

The mottled owl was described by the American ornithologist

John Cassin John Cassin (September 6, 1813 – January 10, 1869) was an American ornithology, ornithologist from Pennsylvania. He worked as curator and vice president at the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences and focused on the systemic classification ...

in 1849 and given the

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...

''Syrnium virgatum''. In 1999, Wink and Heidrich transferred it to the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

'' Strix'', but this is still contested by some authorities.

Description

The mottled owl is a medium-sized owl with adults reaching in length. Females are considerably larger than males; the mottled owl shows the greatest degree of

sexual dimorphism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where sexes of the same species exhibit different Morphology (biology), morphological characteristics, including characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most dioecy, di ...

of any species of owl. The crown, nape and back are mottled in several shades of darkish brown, the facial disc is pale brown and the throat, breast and belly are off-white with distinctive vertical brown streaks. The large eyes are brown, the beak is greyish-yellow or greyish-blue, and the legs and feet are greyish-yellow. There is a darker form of the bird with a buff breast and belly. Mottled owls produce a range of calls which include a hoot used in maintaining

territory A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, belonging or connected to a particular country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually a geographic area which has not been granted the powers of self-government, ...

boundaries, and various whistles, screeches and hisses.

Distribution and habitat

The mottled owl is native to Central and South America. Its range extends from Mexico south to Argentina and Brazil and it is found at elevations up to about . It inhabits a variety of wooded habitats including rainforest, woodland verges, dry thorn forest, pine–oak woodland and plantations and also open countryside with scattered trees. In some parts of its range it is common and it is often found close to human habitations. In 1983, a specimen was retrieved on the American side of the Rio Grande, thus establishing a first record for the United States. Forty years later, a mottled owl was photographed in Starr County, Texas, and there is also a 2006 record from the same state.

Behaviour

The mottled owl is

nocturnal Nocturnality is a ethology, behavior in some non-human animals characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatur ...

and spends the day in dense vegetation where it may be mobbed by other birds. Its large eyes are adapted for sight at low levels of light, and its hearing is also acute. It is a

predator Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common List of feeding behaviours, feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation ...

and at night often perches on a branch beside a glade or at the edge of woodland on the lookout for prey. When it detects a small moving object, it swoops down from its perch on silent wings and pounces on its target, which may be a small mammal, a bird, reptile or amphibian or a large beetle, grasshopper or other insect/arthropod. It is known to prey on

bat Bats are flying mammals of the order Chiroptera (). With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most birds, flying with their very long spread-out ...

s. The mottled owl breeds between February and May in Colombia and in September to November in Argentina. It usually nests in a hole in a tree but may also choose an empty nest built by another species. One or usually two white eggs are laid and incubated by the female and both parents care for the young.

Status

The mottled owl has a very wide range and the number of individual birds has been estimated to be somewhere between five hundred thousand and five million. It is listed by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

as being of "

Least Concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

" on the basis that, though its numbers may be decreasing slightly, they are not doing so at such a rate as would justify putting the bird in a more vulnerable category.

References

External links

* Mottled Owl photo at owlpages.com * * * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q185279 Strix (genus) Birds described in 1849 Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN