Owls | Strigidae

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The facial disc is round and the eyes are large, with an iris ranging from yellow to almost black; several species carry two erectile feather tufts on the head, which have nothing to do with hearing but do break up the head's outline. The inner toe is shorter than the middle toe and the middle claw is smooth. In Mexico and Central America the family numbers 33 species in eleven genera, from the Elf Owl of about forty grams, which nests in woodpecker holes in columnar cacti and trees, to the Great Horned Owl of more than a kilo. Screech owls (Megascops) and pygmy owls (Glaucidium) are numerous; the latter also hunt by day and carry two dark spots on the nape that act as a second pair of eyes. Large species such as Spectacled Owl and Crested Owl live in lowland forest, and saw-whet owls (Aegolius) in montane forest. The voice consists of low, far-carrying notes, trills or whistled series that hold the territory, and is usually the first thing by which the species is known. Nesting is in a tree hole, an old nest of another bird, on a cliff ledge or, as in Burrowing Owl, in a burrow in the ground; the female incubates and broods, the male brings in the food.