Megascops kennicottii

Formerly treated as a subgenus within Otus (Marshall and King in Amadon and Bull 1988), but mitochondrial DNA and vocal differences with Old World species indicate that generic status is warranted (Konig et al. 1999).

Prior to 1982 regarded as conspecific with O. ASIO. Populations in northwestern Mexico have been treated as separate species (O. VINACEUS) by some authors. Mixed pairs and overlap of ASIO and KENNICOTTII in Colorado and Texas is attributed to long-distance dispersal in marginally poor habitat. Sympatry without interbreeding with ASIO reported for western Edwards Plateau (Dixon 1989).

Still widespread; population probably stable in many areas, probably declining in others. Threatened by habitat loss and/or degradation, particularly the loss of riparian forests and woodlands.

RESIDENT: from south-coastal and southeastern Alaska, coastal and southern British Columbia, northern Idaho, western Montana, southeastern Colorado and extreme western Oklahoma south to southern Baja California, northern Sinaloa, in Mexican highlands to Distrito Federal, and to western Texas (AOU 1998, Cannings and Angell 2001). Apparently has expanded north into southern Alberta.

Primary threat is loss or degradation of habitat. Closely linked to riparian forests and woodlands over much of its range, and this is often the first habitat in any given area to be altered, especially in the dry southwest (Cannings and Angell 2001). On coastal British Columbia, may be threatened by largescale logging (Chaundy-Smart 2002). In the Pacific Northwest, traditional territories have been abandoned coincident with the arrival of Barred Owls in an area (Cannings and Angell 2001).