Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus) in the Yucatan Peninsula: the importance of specimens in museum collections

A b s t r a c t McAndrews et al. (2006) described the "first fully documented record" of the Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus) for the Mexican state of Yucatan. The apparent absence of the specimen collected by Phillips and Dickerman did not allow considering the previous presence of the species in the state of Campeche, however, when we reviewed the collection of the Museo de las Aves de Mexico we found it. This specimen exemplifies the importance of having voucher specimens in scientific collections.