Overview
Mottled Owl: Medium sized owl, brown mottling on upperparts, underparts buff with brown streaks and some barring. Mottled gray-brown facial disk with mottled white outline, no ear tufts. Eyes brown, bill buff or yellow, barred tail. Bare, buff feet. Sexes are similar.
Range and Habitat
Mottled Owl: Found in east and west Mexico south through most of Central America and into South America. Resides from Colombia and Ecuador east to northcentral and northeast Brazil, south to western Peru and Bolivia. Also found in southern Paraguay and southeast Brazil. Resides from sea level to 2,000 m in many different types of habitat, from dry thorny scrub to tropical rainforests and evergreen forests.
Barn Owls and Typical Owls (Tytonidae and Strigidae)
ORDER
The STRIGIFORMES (strih-jih-FOR-meez) is an order of mostly nocturnal birds with two families; the barn owls and the true owls.
FAMILY TAXONOMY
A family found in major habitats on all continents except for Antarctica, there are one hundred and ninety-nine species of owls in twenty-five genera in the Strigidae (STRIH-jih-dee).
MEXICO
Thirty species of true owls in twelve genera occur in Mexico. Members of this family include small species such as the pygmy-owls and Elf Owl, the elusive Unspotted Saw-whet Owl, and the huge Great Horned Owl, a top predator.
KNOWN FOR
Owls are mostly known for their nocturnal behavior although the pygmy owls and a few other species are also active during the day. Their ability to remain hidden during daylight also makes most species infamously difficult to find and see.
PHYSICAL
Owls have stocky heads (some species with feathers that resemble horns), a hooked bill, and forward-facing eyes. Most have fairly long wings and all have sharp talons on powerful zygodactyl feet (two toes facing one way and two the other way) used to kill their prey. Apart from the long-tailed pgymy owls and Hawk Owl, members of this family have short, broad tails.
COLORATION
Black markings with shades of gray and various brown tones describe the colors of most owl plumages (except for the mostly white Snowy Owl). What owls lack in bright colors is made up for with beautiful combinations of streaked and barred patterns that camouflage them during the day.
GEOGRAPHIC HABITAT
In Mexico, although owls are found in all habitats, most species require various types of forest. Tropical species such as Crested and Spectacled Owls live in rainforest habitats, Barred and Spotted Owls reside in montane forests, and the Pacific Screech-Owl occurs in tropical dry forest habitats. Open habitats such as weedy fields with a healthy rodent population are the preferred habitat of the Short-eared Owl and the Striped Owl, and desert habitats are the home of the Elf Owl and a few other species. Both forest and open country is utilized by the Great Horned Owl, an incredibly adaptable bird that even occurs in some cities.
MIGRATION
Most species in Mexico are resident although two species, the Short-eared Owl and Long-eared Owl can visit during the winter months, and three other species, the Flammulated Owl, Elf Owl, and Burrowing Owl, occur both as residents and migrants from the north.
HABITS
Except for Long-eared and Short-eared Owls that sometimes form large winter roosts, owls are solitary birds that swoop down to take prey items from the ground and the trees. Depending on the species, prey can include anything from insects to various small mammals and birds (including other owls) and in the case of Great Horned Owls, mammals up to the size of skunks.
CONSERVATION
In Mexico, three species are globally endangered due to destruction of their specialized habitats; the endemic Tamaulipas Pygmy-Owl, the Bearded Screech-Owl, and the Spotted Owl. The Spotted Owl and screech-owl require montane pine-oak forests, while the pygmy-owl requires cloud forest in a limited area of north-eastern Mexico.
INTERESTING FACTS
Owls have soft feathers that quiet their wing beats, thus helping them surprise their prey. Another adaptation to finding prey is their forward facing eyes and asymmetrically placed ears (for triangulating sounds made by potential prey) that combine with their disk-like facial structure that aid in pinpointing the location