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
007 Hills Building
Burlington, VT 05405
802-656-2910
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