Category Archives: Megascops asio

Dueling Owl Cams

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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.

Critter B & B

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With a new camera installed and functional, we’ve recently observed our Eastern Screech Owl nest box host a variety of critters, some that we didn’t want to see in the box.

Even with the cuteness of two little rats curled up together, the view of them snoozing away in the nest box did not thrill us. So, after they vacated, we closed the box for a few days.

After we reopened the nest box for business, other rats, or maybe the same ones–they all look alike to me–have come and gone over these past few weeks. Fortunately, none hung around for any length of time. 

Then, it was the rat relatives who nosed in for some naps,

…and private time away from noisy neighborhood Blue Jays. 

For the last week, in the wee early morning hours, just at sunrise, I’ve witnessed an Eastern Screech Owl, Megascops asio swoop to the box for inspection. She’d perch at the entrance hole, sit a bit, then climb in for a look-see. Usually, she flew back to a neighbor’s tree to spend her day. Today, she climbed in and stayed in the box for the day.

I’m not sure she’s thrilled with my oohing and aahing but she didn’t dart back into the box out of fear or annoyance, only lazily turned to look at me, squinting in the cheery afternoon sun. I’m glad she’s not threatened by my presence. 

I’m pretty sure this is the same female that we’ve hosted in the box for the last few years. She loves to be outside, perched in trees, even after the sunrise. I call her Uptown Girl. Her mate is Shy Guy and so far, I haven’t seen him. These two have successfully brooded chicks for the past two to three years. Last year, shortly before the eggs were to hatch, the nest box was raided, probably by a fox. After they abandoned our box, I discovered that they’d settled in a neighbor’s tree. I watched for several weeks and was rewarded by watching two fledglings learn to fly successfully under the careful tutelage of their parents. I hope they survived summer and have found their own territory and mates, ready to raise families.

It’s never a sure thing that the owls will stick around, or be safe. A juvenile Great Horned Owl has been in our neighborhood this winter and raccoons and foxes are always a danger to eggs and nestlings. I wish this female and her mate good things in their future. 

Eastern Screech, Settling In

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When we returned during the first week of January from our European travels, our Eastern Screech Owl, Megascops asio, nest box was open and ready for residents.

It was surrounded by lovely autumn foliage, though shortly after this photo was taken, the leaves went brown and dropped. This is a new box, as the older one was no longer functional. The fancy slide for the door that The Hub engineered is so we can easily close the box after the chicks fledge and the owls vacate, or, at the beginning of owl nesting season, to prevent squirrels or opossums from squatting in the box. We also installed a new camera (some wiring is visible at the bottom, left of the box). With that new camera we saw that a squirrel had filled the box with leaves, prepping the box as her nest for some babies. I feel sorry for evicting the squirrel by pulling out the leaves, but we built the box for owls, not squirrels. I had observed an owl in the box before we left in mid-December, but that doesn’t always mean that she’ll settle in for nesting.

But settle in she did, within a day or two of removing the squirrel’s leaves. Shortly thereafter, this little egg appeared:

…and two days later, another,

…then another,

…finally, a fourth.

Note the swish of Mom’s tail feathers at the top of the photo.

Wow! This couple got busy, probably in late November; I had no idea that breeding action had commenced. This is the earliest that a Screech Owl couple has ever started their breeding season in my garden. In past years, I observed their courtships during January and February, watching them meet at sundown, woo and canoodle, then fly off together to hunt for the night.

And as I write that, it sounds voyeuristic and maybe even a little creepy.

The fact is that the best time to observe these elusive nighttime birds is during their courting and the raising of their chicks. This season, I missed the first part of that fascinating process. Typically after courting Mama resides in the box in February, laying her eggs during in March; chicks fledge between late April and mid-May. Dad will hunt and provide food for the whole family, until the chicks are nearly old enough to leave the nest box, when Mama joins him in the hunts. This couples’ early nesting is new in our Screech Owl experience, but is within the time frame of owl procreation here in Texas.

If I’m out at the right moment around sundown, I’ll see Mama swoop out of the box for a quick piddle-n-poo break. I imagine she takes a few breaks during the night, but she’s on the nest nearly full time now–those eggs need to stay warm and cozy. Dad has been harder to observe this year; I’m pretty sure he’s holed up in my back neighbors’ large elm tree, but it’s likely he moves around from place to place. I’ve only spied him once, at sundown, when he flew to the nest box, then to the nearby Mountain Laurel tree. Mama dashed out to met him, both perching briefly in the laurel; I lost sight of them after that.

Eastern Screech Owls are amazing hunters, but they’re also vulnerable to larger predators like Great Horned Owls (we have a pair in our neighborhood), accidents with automobiles, and poisons laid out for rodents which impact the food chain. All I can hope is that this couple remain safe and healthy, and are able to raise their chicks to adulthood.