Striped owl

The striped owl (Asio clamator) is a medium-sized owl with large ear tufts and a brownish-white facial disk rimmed with black. Its beak is black, and it has cinnamon-colored eyes. It has shorter, rounder wings than most of its close relatives. The upperparts are cinnamon with fine black vermiculation and heavy stripes. The underparts are pale tawny with dusky streaks. It is native to South America and parts of Central America.

Striped owl

Striped owl
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Strigiformes
Family: Strigidae
Genus: Asio
Species:
A. clamator
Binomial name
Asio clamator
(Vieillot, 1807)
Synonyms

Pseudoscops clamator
Rhinoptynx clamator

It has been placed in the genus Pseudoscops together with the Jamaican owl, or more rarely into its own monotypic genus Rhinoptynx, but molecular evidence indicates that it is a true Asio.[2]

Description

The striped owl is a relatively large species with prominent tufts of elongated feathers on the crown resembling ears. It is 30–38 centimetres (12–15 in) long and weighs from 320 to 546 g (11.3 to 19.3 oz).[3] Its head, back, hot wings and tail are brown with black stripes and small markings while its underparts are buff-coloured with heavy black streaking on the breast. The facial disk is pure white with a thin black border.[4]

Distribution and habitat

The striped owl is native to much of South and Central America. Its range is not well known, perhaps because it is nocturnal and not easily seen, but it is known from Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay and Venezuela. It uses a variety of habitats, including riparian woodlands, marshes, savannahs, grassy open areas, and tropical rainforests. It can be found from sea level to an altitude of 1,600 metres (5,200 ft) and above.[1]

Conservation status

The striped owl has a very large range and its population is believed to be stable. It faces no particular threats and is classified by the IUCN as least concern.[1]

References
  1. BirdLife International (2012). "Asio clamator". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  2. Wink, M., A. A. El-Sayed, H. Sauer-Gurth, & J. Gonzalez. 2009. Molecular phylogeny of owls (Strigiformes) inferred from DNA sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome b and the nuclear RAG-1 gene. Ardea 97(4):581-591.
  3. Owl pages (2011).
  4. Thurber, Walter A.; Rebecca Lohnes & Thomas S. Schulenberg (2009). "Pseudoscops clamator: Striped Owl". Neotropical Birds Online. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Retrieved 2013-12-22.
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