Eastern Screech Owl

         Megascops asio
Order: Strigiformes
Family: Strigidae
Genus: Megascops

 

    The screech owl is quite common all over this area, even in heavily populated suburban locations.  Very few people realize they are there, even though they can be quite noisy, because they hide in plain sight.  They live in trees the same color as their plumage and sit totally still, so people and predators take them for stumps.  That is the main function of the ear tufts, which have nothing to do with hearing.

  The ears of all owls are asymmetrically placed on their head to allow for triangulation of the prey’s location by sound.  This is analogous to how our eyes perceive depth by triangulation.  So sensitive and accurate is the hearing of the screech owl that birds kept in captivity because they are thought to be blind can still catch live mice in their cages.

  Screech owls tend to be monogamous,  and may mate for life, though a single male may mate with two females. On occasion, one female will force the other out of her nest, lay her own clutch of eggs there, and proceed to incubate both clutches.

  Screech owls eat mostly mice and large insects, but will take an occasional small bird if hungry.  Notice that one owl is gray and one is red.  These are color phases much like the color phases of hawks, and about a third of all eastern screech owls are red, with the percentage dropping as you move west through their range.

  Screech owls make a variety of sounds, ranging from raucous screams to a mournful one note trilling, which is used to court a female, advertise a nest site, or for family members to stay in touch.

    Gorda was hit by a car, and lost an  eye, in Punta Gorda, Florida. Raisin was rehabbed at the Raisin River Ranch in Missouri, after being struck by a car.