Foothill Screech Owl

The foothill screech owl (Megascops roraimae) is a species of owl in the family Strigidae. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela. == Taxonomy and systematics == The foothill screech owl's taxonomy has undergone numerous changes. It has variously been treated as embedded in or a subspecies of the original Otus guatemalae and then as a subspecies of O. vermiculatus when that was split from O. guatemalae. In the early 2000s all of the New World members of Otus were assigned to Megascops. As of 2019, the International Ornithological Committee (IOC), the North and South American Classification Committees of the American Ornithological Society (AOS), and the Clements taxonomy treat it as a separate species, Megascops roraimae. However, BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World treats it as being embedded within M. vermiculatus vermiculatus, the nominate subspecies of vermiculated screech owl. The IOC recognizes three subspecies, the nominate Megascops roraimae roraimae, M. r. pallidus, and M. r. napensis. The Clements taxonomy recognizes two more, M. r. helleri and M. r. bolivianus, that the IOC includes within napensis. == Description == The foothill screech owl is 20 to 23 cm (7.9 to 9.1 in) long…