The bearded screech owl or Santa Barbara screech owl is a small "typical owl" in subfamily Striginae. It is found in Guatemala and Mexico.
Region
Chiapas and Guatemalan Highlands
Typical Environment
Occurs in humid montane forests, especially cloud forest and mature pine–oak and evergreen broadleaf woodland. Prefers dense, mossy forest with a closed canopy and plentiful epiphytes and cavities. Often uses forest edges, ravines, and riparian corridors within otherwise intact woodland. Will persist in selectively logged or secondary stands if large trees and cavity resources remain.
Altitude Range
1400–3000 m
Climate Zone
Highland
Ease of Keeping
Beginner friendly: 1/5
Also called the Santa Barbara screech owl, this small owl inhabits high-elevation forests in southern Mexico and Guatemala. It is secretive, often detected by its soft, bouncing series of hoots at night. Habitat loss in montane cloud forests is the main concern for its long-term survival. It roosts and nests in natural tree cavities or old woodpecker holes.
Illustration by Joseph Smit (1869)
Temperament
solitary and territorial
Flight Pattern
short rapid wingbeats with brief glides between perches
Social Behavior
Typically observed alone or in mated pairs within defended territories. Nests in tree cavities, often in old woodpecker holes, laying a small clutch that both parents tend. By day it roosts quietly against trunks or within cavities, relying on camouflage.
Migratory Pattern
Resident
Song Description
A soft, rhythmic series of hoots that accelerates slightly, reminiscent of a bouncing ball. Also gives short trills and whistled notes, especially at dusk and before dawn. Calls are subdued and can be hard to locate in dense forest.
Plumage
Compact screech-owl with finely barred and mottled brown to gray-brown plumage and short ear tufts. Facial disk pale with a darker border; throat sports a contrasting pale tuft that gives a ‘bearded’ look. Underparts are streaked and barred; upperparts show delicate vermiculation. Tarsi are densely feathered.
Diet
Primarily hunts large insects such as beetles, moths, and orthopterans, gleaned or taken in short sallies from low to mid-level perches. Also takes spiders and other arthropods, and occasionally small vertebrates like small lizards or rodents. Prey is swallowed whole or torn into manageable pieces at the perch.
Preferred Environment
Forages along forest edges, trails, and riparian corridors within mature montane forest. Uses perch-and-pounce tactics from shaded, concealed positions and occasionally hunts in small clearings.
