Category Archives: Eastern Screech Owl

Looking Up!

Posted on by
17

The smallest Eastern Screech owlet is interested in what’s up.

These feathery bobble-heads are growing at a remarkable pace. At sundown, their parents visit, usually with moths, geckos, or worms (at least I think they’re worms…) as delectable nibbles for these cuties. While I don’t watch the camera overnight, I’m sure that feeding goes on throughout the dark hours. Often in the mornings, there is one, or more, deceased prey in the box, ready for a daytime meal when the chicks are peckish.

I haven’t taken daily photos to chart their growth, but they’re big and active now and it won’t be too long before they fledge. I’m fascinated with their daily activities, even when the three are lumped-up in a pile of fluffiness, breathing rhythmically.

Mom and Dad stay close by, coming into the box only to feed. Mom is always stationed just outside the entry hole.

Last year, the owls’ nest box was raided in late February, most likely by a Grey Fox or a Raccoon. This year, to prevent a predator from climbing up the tree and snatching the eggs or chicks, we wrapped the tree with linoleum flooring that comes from a roll, cut to size specification, at your neighborhood big box store. We nailed the width of the flooring to the trunk when mom owl had settled in the box to raise a family.

The tree isn’t near our roof or another large tree, so there’s no concern about a predator climbing up an adjoining structure, then lumbering over to this tree to gain access to the nest box. This makeshift collar has a thick linoleum coating which would be difficult-to-impossible for claws of a smaller mammal to penetrate for vertical traction, thus preventing successful climbing. Grey Foxes can jump up to 6 feet in height, so we placed the bottom edge of the collar at about 3.5 feet, the top edge reaches just over 7 feet high.

The collar looks a little goofy, and no doubt the tree is embarrassed by its attached swath of fake wood, but the fix is temporary and has provided some safety from predators for this owl family. It’s nearly 7 weeks since the the egg holding the oldest owlet (most likely the one on the left in the photo) was laid. Soon, these owlets will see their big, new world for the first time.

Owlets!

Posted on by
18

Fluffy, feathery, floofy owlets have hatched! Two were born on Sunday, the third on Monday. Tiny and fragile, they’re covered with fine, white down; it’s hard to believe that these helpless little creatures will grow into fierce hunters.

Mama’s tail feathers fill the top of the photo. The dark splotch just below are the remains of a bird or rat–I can’t quite tell; food tends to shift around a bit. You’ll notice the scattering of feathers amoung the nesting material.

Uptown Girl is an attentive parent and Shy Guy is now perched in the oak tree, very near the nest box. His job is to protect the nestbox and hunt for his family. He’s delivered a couple of rats and at least one bird, (sob, I think it was a Carolina Wren), as meals for mama and babies. Eastern Screech Owls enjoy a varied diet, which is one reason why they’re so successful in urban areas. Meals range from insects to earthworms, toads and frogs, rodents and birds.

In the weeks that the female was in the nest box awaiting her bundles of joy, she slept quite a bit. Now, she’s more active, with nearly non-stop feeding and cleaning of the chicks. She and the chicks do have some quiet, restful moments throughout the day and often, the chicks are nestled under mama’s warm, feathered body. When the chicks are awake, I’m enjoying their peep-peep songs, such sweet little sounds, though probably indication hunger. Mama continues to trill during the day.

Early in the mornings (about 6AM) when I first check the owl cam, she’s not usually in the box, though she typically returns shortly afterward. Just before sundown, she goes out, but only briefly. As the chicks grow, her absences from the box will become longer and more frequent, as she’ll also hunt; it’ll take two adults to feed these hungry, growing chicks.

It feels weirdly invasive to watch these beautiful animals in their intimate family life, but it’s fascinating to observe the preparation for and parenting of their offspring. Though a few days since the segue from eggs to chicks, the chicks have grown and in a month’s time, they’ll fledge. Their development, supervised by their parents’ excellent training, will continue in more natural settings, less observable by human eyes.

Dueling Owl Cams

Posted on by
14

In January, an Eastern Screech Owl, as well as some other neighborhood wildlife, were making use of our backyard owl nest box as a critter b-n-b. Our owl (named Uptown Girl–I’m pretty sure we’ve hosted the same couple for a few years now) only stayed in the box for one day. I’d see and hear her from time to time, but realized that when she trilled, there was no answering call, and that observation, along with the fact that she didn’t stay in the box again, led me to believe that her mate (Shy Guy) had disappeared. Eastern Screech owls mate for life and co-parent their chicks.

Well, that’s a sad, sad thought: no owl family in our back garden for the year, unless Uptown Girl finds another mate or another couple moves into the territory.

Recently, an Eastern Screech has rested in the nest box during the days and last night we heard a rich, deep Screech trill–does she have a new mate? Is this an entirely new pair? Time will tell whether there’s a Screech Owl family in the making, but typically, Screeches don’t hang out in nest boxes unless they’re in the family way.

At the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Athena, the resident Great Horned Owl, has also set up her nursery. Each year, for the past 14 years, a Great Horned Owl has nested atop the main entry way to the courtyard of the garden, much to the delight of visitors and staff. The owl is always named ‘Athena’. This year, excited wildflower geeks and bird nerds can intimately observe Athena and her (so far) two eggs. The LBJWC partnered with Cornell Lab of Ornithology and have installed a camera which you can read about here, to watch the beautiful owl and her offspring. Folks (like me!) from all over the world are thrilled!

In my case, I am enjoying dueling owl cams: our little Screech paired with lovely Athena, each on different monitors all day, each day, and during the evening. I’m not obsessed, no siree!

The Cornell camera is a significantly better camera than ours–if that’s not obvious from this photo. (Maybe Cornell could offer one of their cams for our backyard?). But I can watch my own little owl and appreciate her resting time in the nest box, beak snuggling in a comforting corner, safe from annoying Blue Jays.

I’ve learned to observe and appreciate, but also understand that nature is not always cooperative or kind, and the world is tough for wildlife. I hope both Athena and our owl (Uptown Girl?) both have healthy chicks and successful fledglings. And this spring, no matter the outcome, I’ll have a front-row seat to their lives as parents.