Megascops trichopsis
Silhouette: Jason Dilworth · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
The whiskered screech owl (Megascops trichopsis) is a small screech owl found in North and Central America. Adults occur in 2 color morphs, in either brown or dark grey plumage. They have a round head with ear tufts, yellow eyes and a yellowish bill. The bird looks very similar to a western screech owl, but has heavier barring on the breast, and is slightly smaller in size. They are 6.3 to 7.9 in and have a wingspan of 17.3 in.
The whiskered screech owl's range extends from southeasternmost Arizona and southwest New Mexico (the Madrean sky islands region) in the United States, southwards through Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, to north central Nicaragua. Their breeding habitat is dense coniferous or oak woodlands, and coffee plantations usually occurring at higher elevations than the western screech owl.
These birds wait on a perch and swoop down on prey; they also capture targeted food items in flight. They mainly eat small mammals and large insects, with grasshoppers, beetles, and moths making up a large portion of their diet but, they also eat katydids and scorpions. They are active at night or near dusk, using their... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cumbres de Monterrey National Park | 🇲🇽 Mexico |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tegucigalpa | 🇭🇳 Honduras |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Whiskered Screech-Owl sighting in Cumbres de Monterrey National Park on a given day, based on 28 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 186th most-seen of the 275 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Whiskered Screech-Owl in Cumbres de Monterrey National Park on a given day, against under 5% in August to June, the lowest months.
Between 7 and 10 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Whiskered Screech-Owl sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is mostly seen at night.
Only Cumbres de Monterrey National Park, in our data
Cumbres de Monterrey National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Whiskered Screech-Owl sightings: under 5% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Whiskered Screech-Owl is recorded against all the birds logged in Cumbres de Monterrey National Park (28 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
