Nombre en español: Autillo Gorgiblanco

Nombre en ingles: White-throated Screech-Owl

Nombre científico: Megascops albogularis

Familia: Strigidae

Foto: Nick Athanas

Canto: Peter Boesman

El autillo gorgiblanco o autillo de garganta blanca (Megascops albogularis)² es una especie de ave estrigiforme de la familia Strigidae nativa de los Andes en Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Perú y Venezuela. Es la especie más grande en el género Megascops con 26 centímetros de longitud y 185 gramos de peso.

Subspecies

Se reconocen cinco subespecies:⁴

M. a. albogularis (Cassin, 1849)– Andes orientales de Colombia y el norte de Ecuador;
M. a. macabrum (Bonaparte, 1850)– los Andes occidental y centrales de Colombia y Ecuador hasta el norte de Perú;
M. a. meridensis (Chapman, 1923)– Andes del oeste de Venezuela;
M. a. obscurus (Phelps & W. H. Phelps Jr, 1953)– sierra de Perijá;
M. a. remotus (Bond & Meyer de Schauensee, 1941)– Andes del este de Perú hasta el oeste de Bolivia (Cochabamba).

White-throated screech owl

The white-throated screech owl (Megascops albogularis) is an owl found in Andes in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela. It is the largest species of the genus Megascops, at 26 centimetres (10 in) and 185 grams (6.5 oz).

The white-throated screech owl was described by the American ornithologist John Cassin in 1849 and given the binomial name Syrnium albogularis.^[

The White-throated Screech-Owl is a widely distributed and rather distinctively plumaged bird of the Andes, where it is found from northern Colombia south to central Bolivia. It is generally uncommon, but is locally fairly common, and like other Megascops is most easily located by virtue of its song. Males produce a somewhat gruff-sounding series of barking notes that may be uttered for as long as one minute, but also give evenly spaced hoots that gradually fall in pitch, which the higher-pitched female may respond to in duet. The obvious white throat patch, from which the species derives its name, make this screech-owl easily identifiable; it is also comparatively large-headed, long-tailed, and generally dark-plumaged, except for the posterior underparts. The ear-tufts are usually practically invisible.