[3][4][5] BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World (HBW) retains vermiculatus as the separate vermiculated screech owl.

[7] The six subspecies of Middle American screech owl recognized by the IOC are found thus:[3] The Yucatán and Cozumel populations of guatemalae are treated as M. g. thompsoni by the AOS/NACC and Clements.

[7] The Middle American screech owl is nocturnal; it hunts mostly by swooping on prey from a perch and also by catching it in flight.

The clutch of two or three eggs is laid in a natural tree cavity or abandoned woodpecker hole.

The Middle American screech owl's principal territorial song is "a rapid, quavering trill...increasing in pitch and volume, [and] ending abruptly".

"[7] The IUCN follows HBW taxonomy and so has separately assessed the Middle American and vermiculated screech owls.

[7] The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) lists the Middle American screech owl in Appendix II.