Owls - In Belize | Belize Budget Suites

Owls - in Belize

Vermiculated Screech Owl

Vermiculated Screech Owl - It is a medium-sized bird within its species, which can measure up to 23 cm in length. There is no sexual dimorphism, although one way to differentiate the male from the female is because of its size, as it is usually a little larger.
Unlike the rest of the members of the same species, this one has feathers that cover its feet. The colour of the plumage is reddish grey. The tail is long and the lower part of its body has longitudinal stripes and some horizontal stripes. Its face is bordered with dark feathers and has relatively short locks. Their eyes are yellow and their beaks are olive green.

Ferruginous Pygmy Owl

Ferruginous Pygmy Owl - Widespread and generally common little owl of tropical lowlands, often seen and heard during the daytime. Favors open tropical woodland and edge, second growth areas with trees (including towns, even cities with wooded parks), tropical pine savannas. Persistent whistles and mobbing bands of small birds often draw attention to pygmy-owls, which can be perched up on open snags or buried deep in cover. Color varies from rusty to grayish overall, but all color types have fine whitish streaks on crown (not spots) and numerous, narrow dark tail bars.

Central American Pygmy

Central American Pygmy Owl

Central American Pygmy Owl - Very small owl of humid evergreen forest in tropical lowlands that is active during the day. Favors forest canopy where it is rarely seen, but sometimes hunts low at forest edges. Most often detected by its tooting call, given at any time of day but mainly early and late. Like other pygmy-owls, presence often revealed by mobbing bands of small songbirds. Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl favors more open habitats, is seen much more frequently, and has pale streaks (not spots) on the crown and a slightly different tooting song.

Burrowing Owl

Burrowing Owl - Small, long-legged owl of open grassy habitats. Appears brown at a distance with irregular white spotting. Yellow eyes. Typically found on the ground or perched on low fence posts or rocks. Active during day and night when it hunts mainly for insects and small mammals. When agitated, it stands erect and abruptly bows down. Nests in a burrow, often dug by a prairie dog or tortoise.
INTERESTING FACTS

Unlike most owls in which the female is larger than the male, the sexes of the Burrowing Owl are the same size.
Burrowing Owls often stow extra food to ensure an adequate supply during incubation and brooding. When food is plentiful, the birds' underground larders can reach prodigious sizes. One cache observed in Saskatchewan in 1997 contained more than 200 rodents.
In the absence of suitable homes created by ground squirrels, prairie dogs, desert tortoises, or other burrowing animals, Burrowing Owls have been known to nest in piles of PVC pipe and other lairs unintentionally provided by humans. Conservationists make use of the owls' adaptability by supplying artificial burrows made of buckets, pipes, tubing, and other human-made materials.
Burrowing Owls have a higher tolerance for carbon dioxide than other birds—an adaptation found in other burrowing animals, which spend long periods underground, where the gas can accumulate to higher levels than found above ground.
Efforts to protect Burrowing Owl populations can turn into complex ecological juggling acts. On a naval base near San Diego, California, land managers had to balance the needs of declining Burrowing Owls with a colony of endangered Least Terns, whose chicks the owls sometimes preyed upon.
Before laying eggs, Burrowing Owls carpet the entrances to their homes with animal dung, which attracts dung beetles and other insects that the owls then catch and eat. They may also collect bottle caps, metal foil, cigarette butts, paper scraps, and other bits of trash at the entrance, possibly signifying that the burrow is occupied.
The oldest known Burrowing Owl was at least 9 years, 11 months old when it was sighted in California in 2014.

Stripped Owl

Stripped Owl - Fairly large, pale, eared owl with honey-colored eyes. Favors savannas and other open areas with scattered trees and bushes, such as cane fields and open plantations. Roosts in dense foliage or on the ground, but often hunts from roadside perches such as utility wires. Note the prominent ear tufts (rarely held flattened), whitish face rimmed with black, and whitish underparts with neat dark streaking. Compare with Short-eared Owl.

Barn Owl

Barn Owl - Pale owl; white below and orangey with gray spotting above. Heart-shaped white facial disc. Hunts primarily rodents in open areas by night. Roosts in old buildings and nest boxes by day. Widespread across every continent except Antarctica. Appears very white in headlights at night. Its call is a bone chilling, rising shriek.
INTERESTING FACTS

Barn Owls swallow their prey whole—skin, bones, and all. About twice a day, they cough up pellets instead of passing all that material through their digestive tracts. The pellets make a great record of what the owls have eaten, and scientists study them to learn more about the owls and the ecosystems they live in.
Up to 46 different races of the Barn Owl have been described worldwide. The North American form is the largest, weighing more than twice as much as the smallest race from the Galapagos Islands.
Barn Owl females are somewhat showier than males. She has a more reddish and more heavily spotted chest. The spots may indicate the quality of the female. Heavily spotted females get fewer parasitic flies and may be more resistant to parasites and diseases. The spots may also stimulate the male to help more at the nest. In an experiment where some females’ spots were removed, their mates fed their nestlings less often than for females whose spots were left alone.
The Barn Owl has excellent low-light vision, and can easily find prey at night by sight. But its ability to locate prey by sound alone is the best of any animal that has ever been tested. It can catch mice in complete darkness in the lab, or hidden by vegetation or snow out in the real world.
The oldest known North American Barn Owl lived in Ohio and was at least 15 years, 5 months old.

Crested Owl

Crested Owl - Uncommon but unmistakable. Large spectacular owl of humid evergreen forest in tropical lowlands and foothills. Often roosts in pairs at low levels inside the forest, sometimes in rather open situations. Roosting birds often hold their long, bushy white eyebrows flattened, but raise them when alert. At night, favors dense forest canopy. Calling birds can be very difficult to locate. Call is a short, throaty, intensifying growl, typically repeated every 5–10 seconds.

Stygian Owl

Stygian Owl - The Stygian owl (Asio stygius) is a medium-sized dusky colored owl. It has yellow eyes, a black beak, a dark blackish facial disk, and white eyebrows. Its underparts are a dingy buff color with dark brown barring and streaks. The upperparts are reverse, buff barring and streaks on a dark background. The adjective "Stygian" means "of, or relating to, the River Styx", but is more widely applied to anything that is dark or dismal.

Great Horned Owl

Great Horned Owl - Large and widespread owl with distinctive ear tufts. Found in a variety of habitats from dense woods to prairie and deserts with at least some trees. Also, found in wooded towns and suburbs. Typically well-camouflaged dark brown overall, but varies in color. Often engages in haunting duets, with males and females hooting back and forth. Preys upon a variety of animals, including mammals, birds and reptiles.
INTERESTING FACTS

Great Horned Owls are fierce predators that can take large prey, including raptors such as Ospreys, Peregrine Falcons, Prairie Falcons, and other owls. They also eat much smaller items such as rodents, frogs, and scorpions.
When clenched, a Great Horned Owl’s strong talons require a force of 28 pounds to open. The owls use this deadly grip to sever the spine of large prey.
If you hear an agitated group of cawing American Crows, they may be mobbing a Great Horned Owl. Crows may gather from near and far and harass the owl for hours. The crows have good reason, because the Great Horned Owl is their most dangerous predator.
Even though the female Great Horned Owl is larger than her mate, the male has a larger voice box and a deeper voice. Pairs often call together, with audible differences in pitch.
Great Horned Owls are covered in extremely soft feathers that insulate them against the cold winter weather and help them fly very quietly in pursuit of prey. Their short, wide wings allow them to maneuver among the trees of the forest.
Great Horned Owls have large eyes, pupils that open widely in the dark, and retinas containing many rod cells for excellent night vision. Their eyes don’t move in their sockets, but they can swivel their heads more than 180 degrees to look in any direction. They also have sensitive hearing, thanks in part to facial disc feathers that direct sound waves to their ears.
The oldest Great Horned Owl on record was at least 28 years old when it was found in Ohio in 2005.

Spectacled Owl

Spectacled Owl - Uncommon but unmistakable. Very large spectacular owl of humid evergreen forest in tropical lowlands and foothills. Often roosts at low to middle levels, usually well hidden in shady spots, and flushes easily. At night, favors open forest canopy and forest edge, but calling birds can be well hidden in foliage. Song is a resonant, pulsating series of deep hoots, sounding rather like a sheet of metal being flexed quickly; an uncommon variant call of the Mottled Owl sounds rather similar.

Black & White Owl

Black & White Owl - Handsome but scarce large owl of tropical lowland forest and edge. Found in forests, plantations, gardens, and towns. Mainly roosts high in trees during the day, but sometimes roosts in rather open situations. At night it hunts mainly at higher levels, but sometimes can be found pursuing bats under streetlights. Note the bright yellow bill and feet and boldly patterned black-and-white plumage. Varied hooting calls often end with an emphatic note.

Mottled Owl

Mottled Owl - Medium-sized patchy-looking owl with dark eyes. Densely-marked orange-and-gray coloration is unique. Typically gives single hoots, but also gives an odd, mellow tremolo vocalization in the breeding season. A lowland species, favoring groves and clusters of trees in open plains and on the edges of cultivated areas.