Eastern Screech Owl (Megascops asio) [XC771180]
by Paul Driver from Elkins Park, PA, United States (call)
Eastern Screech Owl (Megascops asio) [XC825396]
by Leonardo Guzman Hernandez from Elkins Park, United States (call)
Subspecies
Sometimes considered to form superspecies with Western Screech-Owl (Megascops kennicottii), Balsas Screech-Owl (Megascops seductus) and Pacific Screech-Owl (Megascops cooperi). Formerly treated as conspecific with Western Screech-Owl (Megascops kennicottii), and may interbreed in areas of range overlap (separated by 60 km in Oklahoma "panhandle", slightly sympatric in Colorado Springs, broadly overlapping in Texas, areas of contact in Mexico undetermined). However, vocal and DNA analyses show that it is better treated as a separate species. Often considered to include Balsas Screech-Owl (Megascops seductus) and Pacific Screech-Owl (Megascops cooperi) as subspecies. Geographical limits of listed subspecies uncertain; naevius sometimes merged with nominate. Additional described subspecies probably reflect individual variation or intermediates only: swenki of south-central Canada to Oklahoma included in maxwelliae; semplei from central Mexico in mccallii.
The following 6 subspecies are recognised:
maxwelliae (Ridgway, 1877) - South-central Canada and north-central USA.
naevius (J. F. Gmelin, 1788) - South-eastern Canada and north-eastern USA (south to North Carolina).
asio (Linnaeus, 1758) - Oklahoma east to South Carolina and Georgia.
hasbroucki (Ridgway, 1914) - Central Oklahoma to Texas.
floridanus (Ridgway, 1874) - Louisiana to Florida.
mccallii (Cassin, 1854) - Southern Texas to north-eastern Mexico.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet