Allan,

Ah Ha!  I saw a reference to megascops in one of the sites I looked at.  Thanks for clarifying.  Now I get it.  

So, if the Screech owl was separated from the old-world scops (which I assume means "eared" or "tufted" or something like that) owls then the next question is…

What does the mega refer to?  Relative size?  Voice?  Some other feature?

Thanks
S
On Jan 23, 2011, at 9:55 AM, Allan Strong wrote:

> Hi Scott,
> 
> Interestingly, the scientific name for Long-eared Owl is Asio otus! I have no idea what it sounds like if you play its song backwards...
> 
> But, as taxonomy is always changing, the E. Screech-Owl's scientific name is now Megascops asio.  All the New World screech-owls were placed in this genus to better illustrate their divergence from the old world owls.  But, the western Flammulated Owl was left in Otus because of uncertainty about its origins.
> 
> For an interesting read about how these types of decisions are made, see:
> http://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCProp58.html
> 
> Allan
> 
> On 1/23/2011 8:56 AM, Scott Sainsbury wrote:
>> I got excited about the screech owl that was spied yesterday, and looked up its scientific name -- otus asio.
>> I found this on the web.  http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~loxias/letter20.htm
>> So, the poor bird is named eared owl, horned owl.
>> Not very creative.
>> S
> 
> -- 
> 
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> Allan M. Strong
> University of Vermont
> The Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources
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