screech owl

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun Any of various small owls of the genus Megascops of the Americas, especially M. asio of eastern and central North America and M. kennicottii of western North America, having ear tufts and a quavering whistlelike call.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun An owl that screeches, as distinguished from one that hoots: applied to various species.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun A North American owl belonging to the Megascops genus.
• noun UK the barn owl, Tyto alba.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun any owl that has a screeching cry
• noun small North American owl having hornlike tufts of feathers whose call sounds like a quavering whistle