Bael Fruit vs Cloud-forest Screech-Owl

Aegle marmelos compared with Megascops marshalli

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Bael Fruit	Cloud-forest Screech-Owl
Kingdom	Plantae (Plants)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)	Chordata (Chordates)
Class	Magnoliopsida (Dicots)	Aves (Birds)
Order	Sapindales (Sapindales)	Strigiformes (Owls)
Family	Rutaceae	Strigidae (True Owls)
Genus	Aegle	Megascops
Species	Aegle marmelos	Megascops marshalli

Conservation Status

Bael Fruit

NT — Near Threatened

Cloud-forest Screech-Owl

NT — Near Threatened

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Bael Fruit	Cloud-forest Screech-Owl
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Bael Fruit

Habitat

Found across multiple habitat types including tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests, tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, and deserts and xeric shrublands. Populations are also found in montane and highland environments at higher elevations.

Range

Widely distributed across Africa (Seychelles), Asia (Laos, Taiwan, Timor-Leste), Oceania and the Pacific (Australia, Micronesia), and South America (Brazil). Listed as Near Threatened, this species requires ongoing monitoring to prevent population decline.

Cloud-forest Screech-Owl

Habitat

Typically found in various aerial, terrestrial, and aquatic environments.

Range

Found in Norway. Listed as Near Threatened, this species requires ongoing monitoring to prevent population decline.

Bael Fruit

The Bael Fruit (Aegle marmelos) is a species in the genus Aegle. It is currently classified as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List. Found across multiple habitat types including tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests, tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, and deserts and xeric shrublands. Populations are also found in montane and highland environment.

Cloud-forest Screech-Owl

The cloud forest screech-owl (Megascops marshalli) is a small owl in the family Strigidae endemic to the eastern slopes of the Andes in Peru and Bolivia, inhabiting cloud forest and humid montane woodland between approximately 900 and 2,200 meters elevation. Described scientifically in 1981, it belongs to the diverse Megascops screech-owl assemblage of the Americas. The species has brown, streaked cryptic plumage and small ear tufts typical of screech-owls, with a characteristic song used for territory advertisement in cloud forest habitats. It is nocturnal and insectivorous, feeding on large insects, small lizards, and other invertebrates caught in the forest understory. The cloud forest screech-owl has a restricted range on the humid eastern Andean slopes, where increasing deforestation for agriculture and coca cultivation reduces suitable habitat. Its population status is considered Least Concern given the continuing extent of Andean cloud forest in its range, though forest clearance on the eastern Andean slopes remains a long-term threat to this and many other narrowly endemic cloud forest bird species.