Bare-shanked Screech-Owl (Megascops clarkii)
Report of Nest - Costa Rica
Bare-shanked Screech-Owl (Megascops clarkii)
Sometime has gone by, however I thought I should put together the information and report the finding on the Bare-shanked Screech-Owl's nest…up to this point undescribed,
at least in Costa Rica.
In March 2010 our friend Lise from Bosque del Tolomuco sent me photo of Bare-shaked Screech-Owl, she mentioned she had a nest in her property
(great place for birding by the way). Seeing an owl and a nest was nice, but what made it really special was the fact that this was a undescribed nest.
After this I took a couple of trips to Bosque del Tolomuco to register as much of the process as I could.
The nest was particularly different, it was found on the base of a decaying tree, very large space for the size of the owl,
and pretty much 45% of it exposed on one side. You can see by the photos that we had a lot of light into the nest, the owl sat
almost like nightjar and the views were magnificent. The visits to the site occurred on March 9 and April 5, 2010.
There was a visit in between where I didn't do any photo work and only observed the nest for a little time.
Coordinates of the site: 9°28'17.30"N / 83°41'51.07"W
Bosque del Tolumuco, Cordillera de Talamanca, Km 118 on the Panamerican Highway.
Since I was in high season and very busy with tours I couldn't come as frequent as I would have wished, however I think it was good to be able to capture images of this owl's nest for the first time.
I thank Lise and Ralph from Bosque del Tolomuco for sharing this finding with me and for her photos and input to learn about this bird.
Please enjoy the photos and the video we posted.
