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GrrlScientist is an evolutionary biologist, ornithologist, aviculturist, birder and freelance science and nature writer. A native of the Pacific Northwest, she relocated from Seattle to NYC with her parrots after earning a BS in Microbiology (emphasis in Virology) and PhD in Zoology (Ornithology) from the University of Washington. In NYC, she was the Chapman Postdoctoral Fellow at the American Museum of Natural History for two years, pursuing part of her "dream" research project by reconstructing a molecular phylogeny of the parrots of the South Pacific islands. GrrlScientist and her five parrots are currently relocating to Germany, where she will continue writing her blog while also writing a book and learning German. (Meanwhile, her parrots will continue to nibble on her extensive personal library.) If you appreciate GrrlScientist's writing, you can help pay her living expenses by hiring her to "blog" your conference, speak at your club or write articles for your publication (or by clicking on the Paypal button below). If you read an essay on this blog that you especially enjoyed, please nominate it for inclusion in OpenLab2009.
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Topic Categories: Birding • Education • Mystery Birds • Photography • Teaching
Posted on: July 16, 2009 9:59 AM, by "GrrlScientist"
tags: Western Screech-owl, Megascops kennicottii, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Western Screech-owl, Megascops kennicottii, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Richard Ditch, 11 June 2005.
Date Time Original: 2005:06:11 13:52:01
Exposure Time: 1/60
F-Number: 5.60
ISO: 500
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
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Comments
No elevation, no voice? Ouch....
This is a Screech Owl -- the yellow eyes, small size, and black mark at the lower lateral part of the facial disk are sufficient to go that far.
Which one? The bill seems to be a medium blue-gray. An adult Western Screech should have a dark bill (except for the tip), but juveniles have paler bills. Western's should also have prominent dark streaks on the center of the breast feathers. A few are visible at the upper breast here.
Whiskered Screech Owl should have bolder markings underneath, including much more widely spaced crossbars. There is supposed to be a difference in the size of the feet, but I've only seen the feet of one Whiskered and I've never seen a Western, so I can't make that comparison.
Overall, I'll guess juvenile Western, but I figure I've got about a 52% chance of being right, if I'm lucky.
Posted by: psweet | July 16, 2009 5:33 PM
I agree: barring on the belly and lack of ear tufts points to juvenile western screech owl.
Posted by: ground petrel | July 17, 2009 3:38 PM