---
title: "Tropical Screech-Owl"
description: "Megascops choliba — Birds. The tropical screech owl (Megascops choliba) is a small species of owl in the family Strigidae."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/tropical-screech-owl
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Tropical Screech-Owl

> Megascops choliba — Birds. The tropical screech owl (Megascops choliba) is a small species of owl in the family Strigidae.

- Scientific name: *Megascops choliba*
- Category: `birds` (Birds)
- Habitats: `forest` (Forest), `jungle` (Jungle)
- iNaturalist observations: 5723
- Wikidata: [Q265026](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q265026)
- iNaturalist taxon: [19788](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/19788)

## Names

- en: Tropical Screech-Owl
- de: Cholibaeule
- es: Autillo común
- fr: Petit-duc choliba
- nl: Cholibaschreeuwuil
- pl: Syczoń tropikalny

## Countries with the most observations

BR (1711), AR (1132), CO (1073), CR (288), PA (283), EC (168), PE (114), UY (99), TT (83), BO (69), PY (51), VE (41)

## Summary

The tropical screech owl (Megascops choliba) is a small species of owl in the family Strigidae. It is found in Costa Rica, Panama, Trinidad, and every mainland South American country.

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_screech_owl

## Photo

![Tropical Screech-Owl](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/tropical-screech-owl/medium.jpg)

Photo: Hugo Hulsberg · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/167684966

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/tropical-screech-owl?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).