Western screech-owl (Otus kennicottii) COSEWIC assessment and status report: chapter 4

Distribution

Global range

The Western Screech-owl occurs in the western portion of the North American continent in Canada, the United States of America, and Mexico (Figure 1). It is found in appropriate habitat in part or all of the following American states: Alaska, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Wyoming, California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. Within Mexico, it is found in Baja California and Sonora, as well as southward through the centre of Mexico from Chihuahua to Mexico City.

Figure 1. North American range of western screech-owl (Otus kennicottii) (to west of line; excluding Queen Charlotte Islands). Primarily from Cannings and Angell in press.

Figure 1. North American range of western screech-owl (Otus kennicottii) (to west of line; excluding Queen Charlotte Islands). Primarily from Cannings and Angell in press.

Canadian range

Within Canada, the Western Screech-owl is primarily found in BC, although there are records from Alberta and Saskatchewan (Figure 2). O. k. kennicottii  occurs on the BC coastal mainland west of the coastal ranges, and on Vancouver Island, while O. k. macfarlanei occurs mainly in the southern interior. The species is not found on the Queen Charlotte Islands.

Figure 2. Canadian range of western screech-owl (Otus kennicottii) (to west of line; excluding Queen Charlotte Islands). In part from Cannings and Angell in press.

Figure 2. Canadian range of western screech-owl (Otus kennicottii) (to west of line; excluding Queen Charlotte Islands). In part from Cannings and Angell in press.

Coastal Subspecies – Otus kennicottii kennicottii

O. k. kennicotti occurs at lower elevations throughout much of Vancouver Island, and in coastal forests west of the coastal ranges, from the U.S. border northward to and continuing into Alaska (Campbell et al. 1990, Guiguet 1949). It is thought to occur throughout the northern BC coast but records there are very sparse, perhaps in part because small numbers of people live there. In this part of its range it is occasionally recorded in the Kitimat Valley - Terrace area (Campbell et al. 1990, Hazelwood, pers. comm., 2001, Horwood, pers. comm., 2001, Macleod, pers. comm., 2001), but does not occur 100 kilometres further up the Skeena River in New Hazelton (Doyle, pers. comm., 2001).  The extent of occurrence (EO) for O. k. kennicottii is roughly 200,000 km², and the area of occupancy (AO) is about 50,000 km².

Interior Subspecies – Otus kennicottii macfarlanei

In Canada, O. k. macfarlanei occurs in the southern interior (between the coastal ranges and the Rocky Mountains) of BC; all breeding records are from the Okanagan Valley (Campbell et al. 1990). Godfrey (1986) incorrectly showed this subspecies occurring north to Prince George and Vanderhoof (and Johnsgard (1988) mistakenly followed suit), but it does not occur this far north (Kinsey pers. comm. 2001, Campbell et al. 1990). The northernmost valid records are from Adams Lake and Anstey Arm of Shuswap Lake (Campbell et al. 1990). The northernmost records from the BCCDC (2001), and from a survey of O. k. macfarlanei (covering an area as far north as Kamloops, Cannings 1997) are further to the south still, in the Kelowna area, although these sources would not be expected to be all-inclusive.

The eastern boundary of O. k. macfarlanei is also imprecisely known, in part because the species is very rare in the eastern portion of its range. The species does not occur in the Revelstoke area (Woods, pers. comm., 2001), but the easternmost records for the species in BC are from the Cranbrook and Wardner areas (Campbell et al. 1990). These two records are both old; from 1912 and 1941 respectively. There are a few recent records from the Castlegar and Creston areas (Clow, pers. comm. 2001, Beaucher, pers. comm. 2001).

There are only a handful of records from Alberta and Saskatchewan and the species presumably does not breed in those provinces. In Alberta, the species is listed as a vagrant (Semenchuk 1992). There are two records from Waterton Lakes National Park in the southwestern corner of Alberta as well as single records from Cardston and Lethbridge (Sharp 1973, Pinel et al. 1991, Smith, pers. comm., 2001). In Saskatchewan, the species is listed as hypothetical (Smith 1996). The most certain record of the species in Saskatchewan is of birds calling in the springs of 1992 and 1994 in the Cypress Hills in southwestern Saskatchewan (Smith 1996).

The extent of occurrence (EO) for O. k. macfarlanei is roughly 22,000 km², and the area of occupancy (AO) is about 100 km².

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