Injuries to a Whiskered Screech-Owl (Megascops trichopsis) chick inflicted by a Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus) in a nest cavity

Abstract

We report the case of a Whiskered Screech-Owl (Megascops trichopsis) chick injured by a Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus) during the breeding season of 2013 in the La Malinche National Park in Mexico. On 17 May, a pair of owls was nesting in a mature Pinus montezumae with one owlet between 14 and 21 d old. On 21 May a flicker began to use the same cavity, apparently preparing the interior for nesting; on 27 May the owlet showed injuries that might have caused its death later, in early June.