Typical Owls (Strigidae)

Western Screech-owl (Otus kennicottii) - HBW 5, p. 173

French: Petit-duc des montagnes German: Westkreischeule Spanish: Autillo Californiano
Other common names: Kennicott’s Screech-owl; Vinaceous Screech-owl (vinaceus)

Taxonomy: Scops Kennicottii Elliot, 1867, Sitka, Alaska.
Sometimes considered to form superspecies with O. seductus, O. cooperi and O. asio. Formerly treated as conspecific with O. asio, and may interbreed where ranges meet or overlap (separated by 60 km in Oklahoma “panhandle”, slightly sympatric in Colorado Springs, broadly overlapping in Texas, areas of contact in Mexico undetermined); vocal and DNA analyses, however, show that better treated as separate species. Often considered to include O. seductus and O. cooperi as races. Race vinaceus has been proposed as a megasubspecies. Geographical limits of listed races uncertain, with intergrades at boundaries. Many additional races described, but some probably reflect individual variation only: saturatus included in nominate kennicottii; macfarlanei and brewsteri in bendirei; mychophilus, inyoensis and cineraceus in aikeni; quercinus, clazus and gilmani in cardonensis; sortilegus in suttoni; and sinaloensis in vinaceus. Eight subspecies recognized.

Subspecies and Distribution:

kennicottii (Elliot, 1867) - coast from S Alaska and NW Canada to NW California.
bendirei (Brewster, 1882) - E Washington and Montana S to SE California.
aikeni (Brewster, 1891) - from SW USA (California E to W Oklahoma) S to N Mexico (NC Sonora).

See all 8 subspecies

kennicottii (Elliot, 1867) - coast from S Alaska and NW Canada to NW California.
bendirei (Brewster, 1882) - E Washington and Montana S to SE California.
aikeni (Brewster, 1891) - from SW USA (California E to W Oklahoma) S to N Mexico (NC Sonora).
cardonensis Huey, 1926 - S California and N Baja California.
xantusi (Brewster, 1902) - S Baja California.
yumanensis A. H. Miller & L. Miller, 1951 - SE California and SW Arizona to N Mexico (NW Sonora).
suttoni R. T. Moore, 1944 - SW Texas S to Mexican Plateau.
vinaceus (Brewster, 1888) - Mexico (S Sonora and W Chihuahua to N Sinaloa).